Stop Being a Coward!
by CaRiNeSs
Summary: Post Spirit Bound...Dimitri told Rose his love had faded. He reconsiders his actions when an unexpected vistor tracks him down to set him straight. Will he change his mind?
1. Chapter 1

Okay, so I just started reading Vampire Academy and I had to get one of the many plot bunnies out of my head! I hope you like this...It happens after Spirit Bound...we will pretend that Dimitri is out of jail and Rose never went to jail. Not sure if I will be continuing this or not...guess we will see what you guys think! Hope you like it!

Of course, I own nothing or Dimitri and Rose would have been together since the beginning!

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Stop Being A Coward!

Dimitri sat staring at the door of his temporary room. He would be leave for Russia in twenty-four hours and that time really couldn't come soon enough. He thought about the pained look he had seen on Rose's face the last time he had seen her. He had told her the biggest lie he had ever told in his life.

Dimitri prided himself on his honesty and he had lied when it really mattered. He knew it was the only thing he could do. He couldn't tell Rose that he still loved her. She deserved better than him. She deserved someone who would never hurt her. Someone who couldn't hurt her like he had.

She had been standing outside of his jail cell; trying desperately to reach through to the Dimitri she had known. That Dimitri was dead and gone. He couldn't come back even though his soul had been restored after months of being trapped in a monster's body. So he had lied to her. He had told her "Love fades. Mine has."

He had seen the look on her face as he shattered the already broken pieces of her heart into a million more. She had come to him, hoping she could get through to him after he had refused to see her; she was so positive it had been some mistake. He had nearly broken his resolve as he looked into her eyes as he told her the horrible lie. But he refused to budge. What he was doing was for her own good. He really wasn't quite sure how Rose could believe him anyway. Not after how close they had been; not after how he had promised her he would always be there for her.

That had been another lie as well. He had left her right after he had made the promise. He hadn't intended for it to be a lie but fate had other plans. Now he had no choice but to stay away for her sake.

That's why he was running away; running back to Russia for a while. He didn't know when or if he would return, he just had to get away. Each minute he stayed in Pennsylvania was a minute closer to his determination being crushed. If he stayed much longer, he was terrified he would run to her and beg her for her forgiveness. He couldn't do that, not yet and maybe not ever.

A knock at his door caught him off guard as he didn't think anyone knew where he was staying until he left. He had been released from jail the day before and thought he would stay at a hotel in the human world for the day until he was able to get on the plane to Russia. He hadn't told anyone he was leaving, not that there was anyone to tell. When he was released, he simply snuck away from the holding cells at the Royal court. He had managed to dodge Princess Lissa and Christian on the way out. They were waiting on him, wanting to talk to him. His eyes had desperatley searched for Rose, hoping somehow she would show up to meet him, but he didn't find her. He figured that she had finally got it and had given up on him.

That thought had hurt him so much but he had no right to be sad or mad. He was the one that pushed her away; not deserving her. Maybe he never deserved her. A second knock brought him out of his thoughts and he stood to walk over to the door. Checking the peep hole, he paused. The person on the other side of the door was one of the last people he thought he would see here and he immediately opened the door in confusion.

"Guardian Belikov." Janine Hathaway was standing on the other side of the door, her face a mask, revealing none of the reason she was there.

"Guardian Hathaway." Dimitri nodded to the woman on the other side of the doorway, his heart clenching as he said the name Hathaway. "What are you doing here?"

Her face revealed nothing as she looked up to the much taller Dimitri, "May I come in for a moment?"

"Um…" Dimitri was bewildered, "how did you know I was here?" He stepped aside to let her come in.

"I just did." Janine nodded, walking past Dimitri. "I will be quick and to the point." She surveyed her surroundings in true guardian form as she turned to face him again. "Do you love my daughter?"

Dimitri was taken aback. He had thought that Janine Hathaway came on official guardian business, he never suspected her to be coming to ask about Rose. His heart clenched and began to race, Janine Hathaway was definitely a force to be reckoned with and he wasn't sure he could talk about Rose with her mother.

"Well I…" He stammered, at an obvious loss for words, not quite knowing which road he should take with the woman in front of him. She had been direct and to the point and he felt like he should reply in the same manner but wasn't sure if he could really talk to Rose's mother about his feelings for her daughter.

"It's a simple question Guardian Belikov, yes or no. I don't have time to wait for you to figure out what your answer should be as I need to get back in time for my flight back to Europe."

"Yes, Guardian Hathaway, I love her very much." He had been afraid to admit it, not only because it hurt but if he truly admitted it, he didn't what to know what actions he might take.

"As I thought." She nodded. Dimitri was surprised by her words but not nearly as much as the words that followed. "Then stop being a damn coward."

He shook his head, not really sure he had just heard her correctly. Had she just called him a coward? Didn't she understand that it was because of his love that he had told Rose his love had faded?

"I have to admit," Janine continued before he could respond "when I first found out about your_ relationship_, I thought it was some ridiculous school girl crush that my daughter and been stupid enough to get caught up in. But after thinking about it and talking to Alberta, I realized that there was a good chance you returned her feelings. I did not however know the depth of my daughter's feelings until I saw her earlier today. Princess Vasilisa called me to come see Rose. If the Princess was requesting my presence, I knew there had to be a problem."

Dimitri raised his head and looked at the sorrow that crossed Janine's face as she spoke about her daughter.

"It's been three weeks since you told her you didn't love her anymore. During that time, Rose has hardly eaten. I saw her right after your death Dimitri." Janine dropped the formal pretence and called him by his first name. "She was upset and heartbroken but she still had that fire in her eyes. When I saw her earlier…." Janine's voice cracked and Dimitri knew that something was very wrong with Rose. "The fire was gone, I have never seen her like that. She was so broken, just a hollow shell of who she had been. I think she could live with knowing you were dead or maybe even with you being a Strigoi, but she can't handle the thought of you not loving her anymore. She has checked out mentally. Lissa has been forcing her to eat everyday and Rose will hardly touch her food. What she does eat, she usually ends up throwing up anyway. She needs you Dimitri and you are being a coward."

"A coward? This is the hardest thing I have ever had to do. I am doing it for her." Dimitri swallowed, not believing what he was hearing. "She deserves someone better, someone who could never hurt her even if they were a monster." Dimitri realized he had silent tears streaming down his face but refused to look away from the woman in front of him. "The things I did to her, she should never have to forgive me for those."

"Dimitri, she has already forgiven you for those things. That's why you are being a coward. You aren't doing this for her even thought you think you might be. You are doing it because you can't forgive yourself. You are so damn guilty that when you look at her, you see what you did to her and you can't live with that. So don't give me the crap about it being for her. She has forgiven and forgotten, you need to do the same."

Dimitri started to say something but Janine put her hands up to stop him.

"I'm not trying to say I know what it is like to turn Strigoi or that I know what you went through because obviously I have no idea. But I do know what it is like to lose the person you love. Sometimes you get over it and sometimes you don't. This is a love that Rose will not get over even if she were given all the time in the world. I do know what that is like and I can't stand to see my daughter go through the same things I did with her father. That is why I am here Dimitri. She deserves better. You are the only one that can do that. Even if you can't be with her now, at least don't let her go on thinking you don't love her. That is what is killing her. It really is destroying Rose. Please, I am begging you to talk to her. " A tear ran down Janine's cheek as she looked at Dimitri. "I can't lose her, not when I just found her."

Dimitri was caught off guard by the sudden display of emotions on the normally stoic Janine Hathaway but he still wasn't quite sure what he could do. He was afraid of seeing Rose and it breaking his heart. If he told her he loved her, she would expect them to be together and he had to forgive himself before he could work on being back with her but even worse, what if she rejected him? That would destroy him.

Janine's mood turned from pleading to angry as she looked at Belikov who was obviously still confused about what course of action to take. "Her love for you is a gift Dimitri, and you are treating it as though it is nothing, some insignificant thing that can just be thrown away. You are no better than a Moroi using a Dhampir. She literally went to the ends of the world for you. She went through hell and back and you are treating her like her love is nothing. I know you have probably changed from the Guardian that you were but that guy, that Guardian, he was the fiercest Guardian I had ever known and I have known quite a few. He wouldn't be hiding in some human hotel room waiting to run away at the first chance he got. Maybe you don't deserve her after all."

With that, Janine Hathaway turned and stormed out of the room, leaving a broken Dimitri to think about what she had said. He wasn't ready to forgive himself and beg Rose to take him back but he could at least face her and tell her the truth. She did deserve that much.

With that decided, Dimitri dried the tears from his eyes and left his temporary room in search of the love of his life. Things wouldn't be fixed in a day but maybe, just maybe, they could still be salvaged.

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So? Should I do another chapter about him and Rose? Please review!


	2. Chapter 2

I am so amazed at the awesome response that I have gotten over this story. Thank you for everyone who has reviewed and added me to their favorite or alert lists! You guys really are awesome! It has inspired me to continue this story. Not sure how long it will go but expect at least a few more chapters. As for now, here is the 2nd chapter that I had to finish thanks to all the reviews I got! I hope you will keep them coming!

Of course I own nothing...and I didn't have a beta so if there are any crazy mistakes please let me know. Thanks!

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Stop Being a Coward

Chapter 2

Dimitri walked up outside of the room that he had learned Rose way staying in. He had wanted to stay as far away from the Royal Court as possible but since she and Princess Lissa were staying there for the moment, he had no choice. He had to do what he could.

He hesitantly knocked on the door outside of her room and waited for it to open. As he waited, he heard soft talking coming from within. "That will be Christian. I asked him to bring you something to eat." Lissa softly exclaimed, "I will be right back."

There was no reply but Dimitri had heard the pain in Lissa's voice as she spoke to who he assumed was Rose. The door was then pulled open and Lissa had a sad smile on her face, expecting her boyfriend. Her face suddenly turned to one of hatred and rage as she saw who it was. Lissa turned back to verify that Rose had not seen who was at the door and then stepped into the hall, closing it behind her.

"What the hell do you think you are doing here?" Lissa exclaimed furiously, "You have no right to be here now."

Dimitri was startled by the abruptness of the Princess, he had never seen her raise her voice or be anything other than the polite girl that she was.

"I brought her some food." Dimitri held up a bag with a burger and fries as he tried to not let the harshness of the Princess' words get to him. He deserved this and so much more for what he had done to Rose.

"You think food is going to make this better? You think we haven't brought her food everyday for weeks? You have no idea what is going on here. You can't just expect to show up like everything is okay. I think seeing you would make it worse." Lissa spat the harsh words at Dimitri.

He thought about walking away but knew he had to do what he came here to do. "No, I know this won't fix things, but I need to try." Dimitri's voiced broke on the word try and Lissa realized he had tears in his eyes. "Please, let me try. I messed up."

"You're damn right you messed up." She hesitated, knowing that Dimitri rarely showed his emotions, "But I don't know if you coming here will help. I am afraid she might be too far gone." Lissa's voice softened as she thought about the pain her friend was going through. She couldn't actually feel her pain but she could understand it. She was also glad that Rose was so numb to her surroundings that she didn't know Dimitri was there or about the rage Lissa had been feeling.

"Lissa please?" Dimitri was begging now, "I have to see her."

Lissa thought about his request for a moment but was at a loss for what to do. If she let him in, maybe he could help Rose but he could also hurt her more.

Christian showed up just then, obviously hearing part of the conversation. "Let him in Lis, what can it hurt?" He put his arm around Lissa and nodded to Dimitri.

"Fine," Lissa said, her anger returning momentarily, "but if you hurt her more, I swear you will regret it Guardian Belikov." She had been pushing her finger into this chest while spewing the words at him, an obvious distaste in her mouth as she said his formal name.

Dimitri nodded, thinking back to when he had threatened Victor Vashkov with death if he hurt his Roza. Dimitri was glad that Rose had Lissa to care for her in much the same way.

"Come on, let's give him some time." Christian pulled Lissa away from Dimitri and started walking her down the hallway to another room. "You need to eat; it will do you some good to get away from Rose for a few minutes, I brought you some food too." Christian handed her the bag, seeing that Dimitri had brought food as well.

Dimitri watched the couple walk away and turned to face the door once again. This time, he bypassed knocking and walked directly into the room. His eyes scanned the area as he looked for Rose. What he saw, took his breath away. He was so happy to see her. He thought he would never look at her again and the thought had hurt him. Just seeing her, brought a warmth to his chest that he had thought he would feel again. Once the relief of seeing her passed, he really looked at her and what he saw made him stop in his tracks.

He had never seen her so weak. Her eyes were red and puffy, obviously from crying. It had been three weeks and she was still crying over him. He really didn't deserve her.

She was sitting on the floor in front of the couch. The TV was turned off and she was just staring forward into nothingness. The words from her mother returned to him as he did notice that she seemed to not actually be there even when she was physically in front of him. He had never thought his Rosa could be like that. She was so strong, so much stronger than he had ever been.

His chest ached as he realized that it was him who did this to her. He wanted to turn and leave, he was suffocating on his own emotions. What he had seen back in Spokane, was nothing compared to how she looked now. She truly was broken. At least in Spokane she had some fight left in her. A look in her eyes that said she still cared about her friend and what happened to him. He knew that she would have fought had any Strigoi that came in to hurt Mason's lifeless body.

But this Rose, this Rose was none of those things. She had given up on herself. He pushed through his own emotions and walked towards her, a new determination to make things right settling in his stomach.

"Oh Roza." Dimitri exclaimed as he reached her. She did not even flinch or look up at him. She was an emotional void. Dimitri knelt down and pulled her into his arms, against his warm body. She didn't even act like she knew he was there.

Her body was shaking slightly and he realized that she was silently crying, mumbling something about how he wasn't really there, how she must be asleep. She thought he was part of her imagination. Dimitri broke down at that realization and began crying too as he rocked her, holding her body against his chest.

They sat like that for about forty-five minutes. He had watched the clock on the TV stand and just waited for her to stop crying. He had noticed Lissa stick her head in to check on them but seeing them on the floor, Lissa gave Dimitri a sad smile and closed the door behind her, giving them their privacy.

About twenty minutes later, Dimitri realized Rose had finally fallen into a silent sleep, her body obviously exhausted by the outpouring of emotions she had gone through. He had not known someone so small could cry so much.

Dimitri picked up the sleeping form and carried her over to the unmade bed. His thoughts attacked him as he remembered the last time he had lain in bed with Rose but he forced them away, wanting to solely concentrate on her for the time being. He could tell that Rose was at least ten to fifteen pounds lighter. After working out with her every day for six months, he knew exactly how heavy she was. How could he have done this to her? Part of him knew that what he did to her now was way worse than anything he had done as a Strigoi. At least having the monster inside of him gave him an excuse. What was his excuse now? He was an asshole and a monster.

Dimitri carefully lowered Rose towards the bed. She was wearing an oversized t-shirt that said 'Bite Me' and some black sweat pants. He could tell she was exhausted and hoped she would get some sleep. He would be patient and let her. He did hope that she would become lucid at some point in time so they could talk though. Just as he had pulled the covers up over her and turned to sit in the chair beside the bed, he felt her hand grab his wrist. He looked down shocked, not realizing she had woken up.

"Please," her voice was scratchy and sounded painful to his ears, "I need you to just hold me. Just for now. Please hold me. I know this has got to be some really crazy dream that I will wake up from soon but please?" she begged, her eyes already drifting closed again.

He nodded and pulled the covers back, pulling her small frame into his arms. "Comrade?" She whispered as he kissed the top of her head.

"Yeah Roza, I'm here." She nodded once and fell back asleep. Dimitri held her and mumbled sweet words in Russian in as he kissed her head and held her body close to his; somehow calming her body from the nightmares she was fighting.

After a while though, he also succumbed to the exhaustion threatening to engulf him and drifted off into a peaceful sleep with Rose in his arms.

What could have been minutes or hours later, loud whispering by the door woke Dimitri from his dreamless sleep. He looked down at Rose and fortunately she was still sleeping. He didn't want to wake her so he didn't move but just listened to what was going on across the room.

"Adrian, you have to stop." Lissa said, pushing Adrian back towards the still open door. Her loud whispers were obviously an attempt to not wake Dimitri and Rose up.

"But that asshole is in there with her. He shouldn't be anywhere near her, he is the reason she is like this to begin with." Adrian's voice held a little more volume but he restrained himself from yelling in order to let Rose sleep. Dimitri had no double that Adrian's whispers were for Rose's benefit alone.

"I know Adrian. But look at her, I know you saw her. It's been weeks, WEEKS, since she has slept that soundly. And if Dimitri is the one that can do that for her then so be it. I know you are hurting Adrian, I know you love her. I know how hard you tried to be there for her and comfort her but it just wasn't working. I know you hate Dimitri but I also know you love Rose. You have to think about what is best for her. She is sleeping without the screaming or the nightmares. She is at peace for the first time in I nearly a month. If he is the one that can give that to her then how could you deny her? How dare you deny her? If you truly love her, like I know you do, you have to let them work through this their own way."

Lissa continued, glad that Adrian had somewhat settled down and Dimitri listened on with interest. "I wasn't going to let him in either but after I thought about it, it made sense. They need each other now, more than ever. Rose would have died without him Adrian. I don't know if they will be together today or tomorrow or ever. That is something that they will have to work out on their own. All I know is that right now, she needs him more than anything. So please Adrian, let them be together, let them figure this out. Don't visit her dreams either. Give her some peace. She needs it." Lissa begged Adrian.

Adrian finally consented and turned to leave. Dimitri could just make out Lissa following him as the door once again shut behind them.

Once again alone, Dimitri's thoughts turned to the angel is his arms as he thought that just maybe he was helping her. Sure, maybe the entire situation was his fault but maybe he could at least help ease some of her pain.

Her soft steady breathing soon lulled him back into a peaceful rest of his own. "I love you so much Roza," Dimitri mumbled as he pulled her closer to his chest.

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Thanks again everyone! Please keep up the reviews!


	3. Chapter 3

You guys are so awesome. Thank you for the reviews. This story is fun to write and I am glad you are enjoying it. Here is my 3rd chapter. Three updates in 2 days is pretty good for me! I hope you like this chapter! I also hope that I captured the emotions okay, I tried really hard.

Not beta'd so mistakes are mine... I own nothing...R&R

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Stop Being a Coward

Chapter 3

The next time Dimitri woke from his sleep was due to a gentle hand being rubbed across his face. He looked down to see Rose awake and staring up at him with a confused expression on her face.

"Are you really here?" she whispered, afraid that if she spoke too loudly that he would dissolve into the recesses of her mind.

Dimitri just shook his head and placed his hand over hers as he leaned against it. The other hand that was still wrapped around her waist pulled her closer to his chest and kissed her forehead. "Yes Roza, I am here."

"Why?" Rose's voice cracked and her eyes became watery again. The question was so simple yet so hard at the same time for Dimitri.

He hesitated for a moment before answering "Because I want to be and I need to be. I'm so sorry Rose."

His voice burned her ears. She felt as though it had been years since the last time she had heard it and she knew the many memories she played over and over in her head of him whispering to her had been a poor imitation of the real thing.

"I thought you didn't like me anymore, I thought you didn't want me. I can't live in a world where you don't care about me Dimitri. I don't remember what it was like to live without you." Silent tears streamed down her cheeks as Rose looked down towards their entwined bodies. Dimitri gently wiped them away with his fingers.

"Please don't cry anymore Roza. I can't bear to see you like this. I hate what I have done to you." Dimitri pulled her chin up so that she was staring into his eyes again.

"I don't understand. Do you still love me?" Her voice cracked as she asked him and he had never seen her look so child-like. Her eyes were full of pain and the fire that he usually saw in the background had been extinguished. This was not the strong independent Rose that he knew and loved. He had reduced her down to an imitation of the person he had known.

"Yes Roza, how could you believe that I could ever stop?"

"Then why did you say that your love had faded? I don't understand what I did. I don't understand what happened. I did everything I could to get you back and you just didn't want to see me and then when you did you said you didn't love me anymore and I just can't understand…." Rose was babbling and Dimitri silenced her with a brush of his lips on hers as he gently stroked her hair.

The barely there touch sent electrical waves through both of them and they were silent for a moment as they looked into each other eyes and remembered what it was like to kiss each other.

Dimitri's face contorted into a look of pain as he tried to gather his thoughts to answer her question. "I don't deserve you Rose. I was trying to do the right thing. You don't understand what it was like. My life before was so consumed with my love for you. You were everything to me. Then when I was changed…" he paused, looking for the right words. "When I was changed, I was still obsessed with you but in a different way. It's like I can feel it all the way to my soul. When I lost my soul it was still there except it had changed forms. It was like the demon inside of me couldn't feel love but kept the obsession. It changed from an all consuming love to a blinding hatred that left me scared. I still have that demon inside of me Rose. The demon that screams at me to kill you, that tells me that I can't be this close to you and not need you, not take you as my own. It yells at me to take you or kill you, those are the only options I have. It's a battle that I am still fighting; half of me screaming to make you mine forever while the other part of me hates you for doing that. I'm so scared that if I give in and try to make you mine that the demon will come out again and want to kill you." A tear streamed down his face as he tried desperately to make her understand.

"The pain is less, but it is still there. I look at you and I think about how much of a monster I am, about how easy it was to do those things to you. I don't know if I can forgive myself and you shouldn't forgive me either. What kind of person could do those things to someone that they love?"

"It's my fault Dimitri; I shouldn't have gone after you maybe. I didn't know that it would hurt you so much to come back." Rose pulled out of Dimitri's grip and scooted to sit up on the edge bed.

"No Rose, you couldn't have known. Please don't blame yourself for any of this. It's my fault, everything is my fault." Dimitri sat up and placed his hand on her shoulder.

"No it's not Dimitri. Don't you see? I failed you. Had I just not hesitated or stake you correctly. Your number one lesson and I failed it. I might have brought you back but it was for selfish reasons. I did it for me and not for you. Lissa told me about the evil that she felt from you when she changed you back. How she had never felt anything like that. I felt that evil too Dimitri. It was horrible. If that evil is still inside of you then that is my fault. I could have stopped it. I should have stopped it." Rose stood up and swayed a little, not able to keep her balance due to her lack of strength.

Dimitri immediately stood beside her and steadied her. "Rose, why haven't you been eating?" Dimitri decided to address the problem of her food intake now that he remembered just how weak she was.

"Please don't start with that Dimitri. I can't hear it from you too." She stepped out of his grasp, upset that he would bring this into a conversation that they were having about his death.

"Lissa is just looking out for you." He tried again, "You know she only wants to help you." He took another step towards her.

The anger that Rose had given up on came back with a vengeance as she shoved Dimitri back. He was not expecting this and even though she was weak, she managed to push him about five feet away from her since she had caught him off guard. "Don't tell me who cares and who doesn't. Don't you think I know she cares? I can feel it remember? This damn bond is all I feel or at least all I use to feel. She's at least accepted my wishes and stayed out of my head recently. Maybe you should do the same. I will worry about myself. But then again of course you are worried about Lissa. She is probably the only reason you came."

The acid in her words burned him as he stood staring at the enraged woman in front of him. He wasn't sure what had happened. One minute she was weak and crying and the next she was angry and yelling at him. "Rose? I came here for you, why would you think I was here for her?" His voice was calm and soothing, trying to comfort her so she would calm down.

"Why would you be here for her? I don't know, maybe because she saved your life, you owe her everything, she is Princess Vasilisa Dragomir and you are sworn to protect her now. Lissa, Lissa, Lissa. My entire life has always been about Lissa! And I don't want to year you say another thing about her. I get the whole indebted to her deal I guess. She wielded the stake that brought back your soul and all but what about me Dimitri?"

Rose raised her voice as she stared the few feet across the room to where Dimitri stood. "What about what I did? I knew you wouldn't want to live as a Strigoi so I went to set your sole free. I am the one that left school and jeopardized my graduation. I am the one who left Lissa. I am the one who went through hell for you. I even thought I killed you and I honestly didn't know how to live in a world without you in it. Then when I found out you were still alive and there was a chance you could be brought back, I broke Victor out of prison for you. Lissa did what she did for me. I did what I did for you. So please do not dilute yourself into thinking that she is this goddess that took it upon herself to save you because she didn't. She did it for me!"

Dimitri could see the fire once again burning in her eyes as she stepped towards him. Her rant had reminded him of the time she had tried to go after Jesse when he had tortured Lissa. She was angry and it was all directed towards him this time. "Roza…"

"Don't Roza me! You sadistic jerk! You have no idea, no idea at all about what I went through. If you really loved me then how could you have not thought about what I went through?" Her voice once again cracked as she collapsed into the floor. The fire that had burned within her so briefly had once again vanished leaving this unknown Rose in its place.

Dimitri caught her just before her body hit the floor and pulled her to him. She was crying once again but this time she was yelling and violently shaking. He noticed too late that she had begun to dry heave once her screaming had quieted. He gently lifted her up and carried her towards the bathroom.

He sat her on the floor in front of the cold toilet the fortunately had the seat already up. He vaguely wondered if it was for reasons just like this and pulled the lose rubber band out of this hair. He tied her hair up with it so it wouldn't be in her way and walked towards the sink to grab a damp wash cloth. He then sat on the side of the bathtub and spoke quiet, comforting words in Russian to her as he rubbed her back with one hand and used the wash cloth to help try and wipe the mix of tears and yellow liquid off of her face with the other.

"Can you please just leave me alone?" Rose asked, still shaking as she leaned over the toilet, possibly sounding more broken than she had just minutes before.

"Rose…"

"Please? Just for now…" She cried into the crook of her arm as she fought against the waves of nausea that still shook her small frame.

"I will be outside the door if you need me." Dimitri kissed the top of her head and placed the cool wash cloth in her free hand. He then stood up and walked back into the bedroom, closing the door softly behind him.

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So what'd ya think? Please review!


	4. Chapter 4

Here is chapter 4. Sorry I didn't get it posted till now... hope you will all enjoy it. I did use a quote in it from BtVS. The episode called Passion is always one that makes me cry...I thought it fit well so I was like wtf...

I also want to say think you to everyone who had reviewed and added me to their alerts or favs. I am so glad you are enjoying this fic and it is fun for me to write it. I know I missed replying to a few reviews and for that I am sorry...keep reviewing please! I will try to not miss any from here on...

No beta and I own nothing as always. Let me know what ya think!

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Stop Being a Coward

Chapter 4

As Dimitri stepped back into the bedroom, he noticed Lissa sitting on the couch with a sad smile on her face. "Sorry, I heard yelling and wanted to make sure you were okay."

"Me?" Dimitri asked wonder why Lissa would be checking on him instead of Rose.

"Rose…"she trailed off. "Rose thinks that I am blocking her, not letting her feel the crazy. She thinks that I am shielding her from my thoughts and feelings. But I'm not."

"You aren't?" Dimitri looked confused and went to sit in the chair across from where the Princess sat.

Lissa shook her head, "Nope, quite the opposite actually. I have been trying to project my thoughts and feelings into her so that she will feel something but she's been numb to it all. I'm not sure if she completely let the dark engulfed her and take away her fight or if she actually willed it away subconsciously. I was so worried about her and the first few days after…" she looked to Dimitri, sure he would know what she was referring to. "Well I was worried and all that worry and anxiety I was feeling was going straight through to her. She was in a rage. She attached anyone that got close and was yelling at me to leave her alone."

Dimitri was surprised at Rose yelling at Lissa but he nodded for her to continue. "Everyone came and checked on her, Christian, Eddie, Adrian, even Ambrose. But she refused to see any of them. She barely wanted me in here. Actually, I don't think she wanted me in here but refused to use force to remove me so I knew she still had a little control. Then Adrian came back one day after she had yelled at everyone to leave her doorway.

Adrian, being the type of guy who doesn't take no for an answer when it comes to Rose, thought he could be her knight in shining armor. He thought he could snap her out of this. She broke both his hand and his nose when he tried to get near her."

A hint of a smile kissed Dimitri's lips at the thought of Rose breaking pretty boy's nose.

"So the next day Adrian tried again. This time she went crazy and started beating him up. She broke his arm in two places. Christian was there fortunately and tried to get her off of him before she killed him but the only way he could was by using fire. It burned Rose's hands pretty badly. She then turned around and punched Christian in the face telling him to get out or she would kill him. I managed to get Christian and Adrian out and told them to not come back for right then. I left with them for a few minutes to heal Adrian's arm and Christian's black eye but when I got back she was like a zombie. She just stared across the room at nothing. I couldn't get her to snap out of it."

Lissa's face turned to a grimace, "even when I healed her hands she didn't protest or act like she felt it. She had no idea what was going on. She has been in that crazy haze ever since. She is either crying or staring off into space. It's like she just gave up."

Lissa could tell that Dimitri was in pain hearing about what had happened but she knew he needed to hear it. "I'm sorry Princess, this is all my fault. I just couldn't see her; I couldn't look at her. I still don't know if I can be there completely yet. I don't know that I'm helping."

"Are you serious? You have helped her so much just by being here. I checked on you earlier and saw the two of you asleep. Rose has been having nightmares or something. She won't talk about them. She just cries and shakes whenever she's sleeping. She isn't much better awake but while she was asleep in your arms, she was peaceful. She actually had a hint of a smile on her face and that smile is the first one I have seen in weeks. She also reacted to you, she yelled."

"But that's not helping her…." Dimitri began but Lissa cut him off.

"It's helping her more than you know. She was so devoid of emotions, like I said, she had let the darkness consume her or something. But when she got mad at you, she felt something. She felt anger and sadness flare up inside of her. Even if it was for just a moment, she felt something. I know that we can get her back now. We just need time. The old Rose has to come back to us."

Dimitri looked down in thought about what Lissa had told him. Could he really be helping her? He noticed the glowing letters of an alarm clock across the room and the time surprised him. "Is it really 7:00 PM?"

"Yeah, you and Rose slept for nearly 14 hours straight."

"Crap, I am supposed to be on a plane back to St. Petersburg in 3 hours." He ran a hand over his face, knowing he needed more time.

"Do you have to leave? You just got here and I know Rose needs you." Lissa said, not wanting to force him into staying if he did not want to be here but knowing that he was Rose's best hope at getting better.

"I will push my flight back a few days. Give us some time to figure things out here. But I still have to go Princess. I have to get my thoughts together and I don't know if I can do that so close to Rose. I need time too."

Lissa nodded in understanding. "Can you go get Rose some food? I don't know if she will eat it but maybe. She needs something. You can use the phone in the lobby to change your flight."

Dimitri nodded and stood to walk towards the door. Just as his hand reached for the door knob, Lissa called back to him, "She really loves you ya know? It's like nothing I have seen before. I thought I was part of Rose, and I am to some extent, but somehow you are more. You should have seen just how much she had changed by just knowing you. I have known Rose my entire life and I have never seen the fire and compassion in her that I did while she was with you. It took me a while to figure out what was going on between the two of you. I thought you were just her mentor but when you were taken away from her," Lissa didn't want to remember that day because she felt her own guilt rise up in her for how she had treated Rose, "she had never been so hurt. She was hysterical. She chose you over me and that had to rip her heart it. That's how I know just how serious she is about you, how much she loves you. It was physically painful to be away from her but she did it for you. Breaking a bond like isn't easy and doesn't happen for just anyone."

"I know. I am grateful to you and her for what you did. I know she has sacrificed so much for me and I love her that much more for it. I just hope that I can be worthy of that love." Dimitri looked over his shoulder where Lissa was still sitting on the couch.

"You are Dimitri. Even as a Strigoi, you protected her. She told me about what happened. I even think that the evil in you couldn't conqueror your love for her, even thought it couldn't perceive that it was in fact love. The evil had such strong emotions and since evil can't perceive something as pure and wonderful as love, it went with the only emotion that could be that strong, hatred. They say there is a thin line between love and hate. You as a Strigoi walked that line every day. Sometimes you would tip more one way and sometimes the other. But you are definitely worthy of her."

"Thank you Princess." Dimitri finally left then, walking towards the lobby area on the first floor of guest housing. He would get Rose something to eat. He was pretty hungry himself and he hoped that she would eat with him.

He was left alone with his thoughts as he walked down the deserted hallway. Something about what Lissa had told him kept reminding him of something he seen on TV a long time ago. It was talking about how passion ruled each of us.

_Passion is the source of our finest moments; the joy of love, the clarity of hatred, and the ecstasy of grief. _

He had definitely gone though each of those when it came to Rose. He had never been in love before and his passion for her showed him the true joy of loving someone. The way he had made love to her in the cabin had been a magical experience for him and he knew that he would never feel anything so emotionally touching or wonderful again.

When he was turned Strigoi, his passion had given him a clarity of his feelings for her. The hatred that filled him was born out of his passion for her and the life inside of her. He had wanted, no _needed_ to take it from her, to feel her life consuming him. Maybe he had thought that if he took her life she would always be a part of her.

The ecstasy of grief was something he was facing right now. The grief of his actions towards her, the grief of what he had made her become, the grief of losing her, and most of all the grief of breaking both of their hearts in the process. He could go thought out each day pretending that he didn't have a broken heart to mend but Rose's was painfully on display and he needed to help her fix that.

Part of him hoped that while helping to mend Rose's heart, he would save his own as well. Somehow he knew the two were linked and if she was never happy again then he couldn't be either. But he refused to dwell on his own feelings at the moment as he walked towards the reception area in the corner of the first floor lobby to use the phone.

Three days, he would give himself three days to help Rose and then he would have to leave. He had to help himself before he could allow himself to be happy with her. IF he could be happy with her.

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Well? Did you like it? Please review!


	5. Chapter 5

Sorry I am just now updating! I was so wrapped up in reading other people's fics this weekend that I hadn't updated my own. I also went to see the Twilight Trilogy last night and Eclipse again this morning so I didn't update yesteday! Lemme just say... LOVED IT!

This is kind of a filler chapter to get into some more detail of where I want to go. Hope you like it and it's not too boring but it gives up a couple pieces of info for the future.

Not Beta'd and of course I don't own it!

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Stop Being a Coward

Chapter 5

Dimitri quickly changed his flight information and then grabbed food for him and Rose at the small food stand sat up in the corner of the lobby. They had sandwiches and pizza and he opted for the sandwiches in hopes of not remembering the last time he had taken her pizza.

He headed back up to Rose's room with the sub sandwiches, crackers, Doritos, a bottle of coke for Rose and two bottles of water. When he reached the door he gently knocked, waiting for it to be opened. Lissa opened the door for him and he stepped into the room, heading for the small table and chairs that sat on the far wall next to the kitchenette.

"Is she still sick?" Dimitri asked, looking at the closed bedroom door.

"I think she's better now. Just needs to get her strength back." Lissa replied, "Let me check on her." She gently tapped on the door as she pushed it open to look inside. "Rose?"

"Is he….is Dimitri still here?" Rose asked Lissa as she looked up towards her friend that was standing in the doorway.

"Yeah, he's still here. Let me help you though." Lissa nodded to the shirt that Rose had been wearing. It was wet and covered in sweat and throw up. Lissa then turned back into the room and went to the wardrobe. She pulled it open and pulled out some clean yoga pants, a sweatshirt, and some undergarments for Rose.

"We will be just a minute." Lissa told Dimitri then walked back into the bathroom and smiled at her friend. "You would never forgive me if I let you walk out there looking like that."

Rose gave Lissa a small smile as she turned towards the mirror to take in her appearance. This was the first time she had seen herself in weeks and she did not look very good. Her cheeks were pale as he olive colored skin tone seemed to have a greenish sheen covering it, making her look sick. Her cheeks were also a little bit thinner and she had black bags under her eyes.

Her clothing was sweaty and nasty and she noticed that she really did smell. It had been at least a few days since the last time she had showered and wondered briefly how she hadn't noticed any of this before.

She shook her head as she took the clothing from Lissa. "Thanks. I'm going to take a quick shower and I will be right out."

"Not trying to be your mother but Dimitri brought you dinner and you need to try and eat something."

Rose's stomach growled in response and a hint of a smile touched her lips. "Thanks Lis."

"Do you need anything else right now?"

"Nope, I think I'm okay. Please don't worry Lissa." Rose commented as she looked at her friend standing in front of her.

"You could feel that I was worrying?" Lissa questioned.

"Yes, bonded remember." Rose looked at her like she was crazy. "And even if we weren't, the look on your face tells me that you are. I know you remember? Bond or no bond."

Lissa smiled what she felt like was her first smile in a days. "I am going to grab something to eat with Christian. Dimitri is outside, don't leave him waiting long."

Rose nodded and turned to get into the shower.

Lissa smiled and walked back out of the bathroom with a grin on her face. "I'm glad you came Dimitri." Lissa walked up to stand in front of him as he sat at the table, "I think she just might be okay. She's cleaning up a bit and will be out in a few minutes. I will leave you two alone. If you need anything, let me know."

"Thank you Princess, I will." Dimitri stood and walked her over to the door, locking it behind her. The Princess had had a little hope on her face about how well Rose was doing. They had already made some progress. He could help her. He would help her. He knew he owed her that much.

Dimitri walked back over to the kitchenette and grabbed a couple of plates. He put the meatball sub on one plate for Rose and his Philly on the other. He then noticed some pictures on the wall next to the kitchenette and walked over to look.

He saw the picture of Lissa and Rose dressed up as pixies for Halloween. He had seen this picture before but looking at Rose now, made a smile come over his face. There was a picture of Christian, Lissa, Rose, Eddie and Mason in the library at St. Vladimir's. He noticed that Mason's eyes were trained on Rose as she smiled at whoever was taking the picture. This had to have been before Spokane. She looked so carefree and happy at the time that he had forgotten the light that was so bright in her eyes before she had had to kill the two Strigoi.

The next picture was of Rose, Lissa, Christian and Adrian. Adrian was also looking at Rose in a way that Dimitri didn't like but the look on Rose's face was priceless as she was scowling at some offhanded remark that Adrian had no doubt given her. This picture was from after Spokane but before he had left. He remembered the day because he had had to go to the commons to retrieve Rose for practice and she had still been yelling at Adrian.

There were a few other pictures of Rose and her mother or Rose and Lissa. There were even a couple with Alberta and some of the other guardians. Rose looked like she belonged in those pictures, as she had her guardian mask firmly in place, not revealing her feelings. But he could see the smile still in her eyes.

Then there were some newer pictures, some that he didn't recognize. There was a picture with her and Adrian. Adrian had his arms wrapped protectively around her waist and she had a smile on her face but her eyes still looked so sad. He doubted that anyone else could read her eyes like he could and knew anyone else would have seen a happy woman in that picture.

He then realized that the pictures were from a party that he had not been there for. They were from her graduation. Even Tasha was in a few of them. He also noticed someone he had not expected to see in the photos, Abe Mazur.

He remembered her bringing up Abe Mazur when she was with him as Strigoi. He had demanded she stay away from him and here he was at her graduation. What was going on? And how on earth did she know Zmey. He felt angry for a moment that she would have him around.

At that moment, Rose walked up behind him. She was wearing a towel wrapped around her hair and had changed into the clothes that Lissa had taken in to her. She noticed the tension in Dimitri's shoulders as she looked at the pictures with him. Not quite sure what had gotten him so upset. She then noticed the picture of her and Adrian and figured that had to be it.

"We broke up." She said suddenly, hoping that Dimitri didn't think she was still with Adrian. Technically, she hadn't broken up with Adrian but surely he wouldn't still think they were together after she had broken his nose...right?

Dimitri turned to look at her. "You broke up? With whom?"

"Adrian….isn't that what you were looking at?" confusion laced her words as she took in his face.

"Actually no, that's good to know though." A brief smile kissed his lips.

"Then what are you upset about?"

"Well first, I am upset that I missed your graduation, I heard you were badass." Dimitri picked a better topic to start with, other than why Abe was in the pictures. He grinned at her. Complimenting Rose always seemed to make them both feel better.

Rose smiled at him, her first real smile in a long time. Her cheeks kind of hurt as she did so, she hadn't used those muscles in a while. "Yeah, I was pretty awesome. I wish you had been there too. I learned from the best though." She didn't want to think about why he wasn't there though so she went on asking, "What's the other thing that upset you?"

"Why is Abe Mazur in your picture?"

Rose noticed his eyes darken just a bit and the edge in his tone got harder as he was obviously trying to make this a simple question as well.

Rose sighed and turned to walk towards the food sitting on the table. It had actually smelled good and she was so hungry she didn't want to wait to eat anymore.

"He's my father."

At the look of complete confusion on Dimitri's face, she continued, "you know, like the guy that got my mom pregnant. Nine months later and here is Rose…"

"Your father? Why does that not surprise me? It seems like anything that can go wrong for you will. Makes sense as to where you got your stubbornness and temper. Your mother never seems to have the attitude that you do but Abe Mazur sure does."

She had wondered where Dimitri knew Abe from but decided she didn't want to talk about her father at the moment. She had Dimitri here and wanted to use the time while she had it.

"I'm hungry." Rose grabbed her sandwich and started to eat it, "let's eat."

Dimitri complied and walked over to sit down across from her. He opened the chips for Rose and picked up his sandwich.

"I'm glad you're here Dimitri." Rose said in between bites of her food, her mouth still full as she spoke.

"I'm glad I am too Rose." He smiled at her as she washed down a mouthful of her sandwich with the Coke.

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Thank you everyone who has reviewed! You guys are totally awesome and inspire me to write more! Please review this chapter too! I have gotten good ideas from some of the stuff you guys have sent me!


	6. Chapter 6

So here is the next chapter! I am sorry I didn't post it earlier... hope ya like it! It kind might be rated M for a minute so I wanted to warm you...if anyone thinks I should change the rating let me know.

I want to say a big thank you to everyone that has reviewed...over 100 reviews! That is really awesome, I am so happy you are liking my story!

No Beta and I own nothing...

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Stop Being a Coward

Chapter 6

They ate for a few more minutes as Rose nibbled on the sandwich in front of her. She had eaten just over half of it and Dimitri knew she still wasn't up to par. The Rose he knew would have eaten all of hers and asked for part of his.

He said nothing though as she stared at the food left on her plate, occasionally glancing up at him with a small smile gracing her lips.

"You done?" He asked, wondered what had slowed her down.

"Yeah, I can't eat anymore of it right now."

He nodded and continued to finish his sandwich as they sat in a comfortable silence, neither of them wanting to break the calm that had fallen between them. Silence between them was relaxed as always but Dimitri wanted to talk to her. He just wasn't sure where to begin.

"You want dessert?" He asked, reaching into the bag that sat at the side of the table to pull out a double chocolate chip cookie. He knew Rose couldn't pass up that. He waived it in front of her for a moment with a grin on his face.

"Um…not at the moment."

"Okay…. I guess I will have to eat it then." Dimitri rarely ate desserts but he opened the ridiculously large cookie and took a bite. It was fresh from one of the bakeries downstairs and still had a little warmth to it.

He smiled as Rose looked over at him. He could tell she was about to cave when he took a second rather large bite out of the cookie and chewed slowly, savoring the chocolatey flavor in his mouth.

"This is so good." He said as he looked into Rose's chocolate covered eyes.

"You have a little bit…" Rose wiped her face with her napkin as she tried to show Dimitri were there was a bit of the chocolate chip left on his lip.

Dimitri wiped at the spot but seemed to be getting everywhere except where the chocolate was.

Rose rolled her eyes and stood up, "let me."

She stopped just beside his chair and he turned in it to face her. She looked down into his eyes and saw many emotions pass though them as he looked back up at her. She smiled for a moment as her eyes then travelled down to his lips where the chocolate still was. She reached down with her napkin to wipe it away but at the last minute decided she had a better way of getting the chocolatey goodness off of his face.

Rose leaned down and licked his bottom lip right where the chocolate had been. She then pulled back for a brief moment in thought as she said "you are right, that was really tasty." She then pushed her lips back down on his.

He was shocked at first but quickly began to kiss her back with as much passion and love as he could put into the kiss. Slowly, this kiss got more heated as he put his hands on her hips and pulled her down into his lap.

She gladly placed her knees on each side of his waist and snaked her arms around his neck. His hands were securely gripping her bottom, pulling her as close to him as he could get her. She groaned as she rubbed herself suggestively against him.

He quickly decided that the chair was not a good place as he struggled to bring her body closer to his. He grabbed her thighs and wrapped them around him as he walked the two of them back towards the bed.

They tumbled down towards the already unmade bed and Dimitri pressed himself as close as he could while they were both still wearing clothing. He moaned as she continued to rub her center hard against his body.

When they finally both needed air, Rose pulled back briefly but kissed down his jaw to the side of his neck. His hands moved up her shirt and rubbed her back. He was both shocked and excited to feel that she was not wearing a bra under the sweatshirt she was wearing and his body became even more painfully aware of the woman in front of him.

He pulled the towel away from her still damp hair and threw it across the room. He ran his fingers through her hair and then down to the bottom of her sweatshirt as she sat on his lap. He tugged the shirt over her head and she lifted her arms to allow him to free her of the garment.

She returned her lips to his for a moment before reaching down and wrenching his shirt over his head as well. He rolled them over so he was now laying over her and began to kiss down her exposed body. He stood up at the end of the bed and pulled at the bottom of her yoga pants. She lifted herself off the mattress and helped shimmy them down her legs.

He kicked off his shoes then unzipped and removed his jeans, letting them fall into the pile of clothing forming at the foot of the bed. He gently began to kiss his way back up her body.

Rose shivered at the sensations that Dimitri brought forth in her and relished in the feeling of his tongue twisting up her legs and stomach. He gently stopped to run his lips and tongue over each nipple as he worked his way back up towards her face.

He licked the side of her neck but abruptly stopped as he felt her pulse throb just below his tongue. He was frozen for a moment as he stared at her neck. All the sudden memories of him sinking his fangs into her delicate skin flooded through his mind. He was doing it again, the thing he had told himself he couldn't do again. He was taking advantage of her.

Rose had noticed him stiffen and pulled back for a moment to look at his face. "What? What's wrong? Why'd you stop?" She asked as she put her hand on his shoulder.

He looked up at her to her cheeks were tinted pink and her hair was a wild mess on her head. Her lips were swollen from his kisses and her body was bare and exposed to him. She looked so beautiful that his thoughs hurt him that much more.

"We can't." He abruptly got up off of her and stood at the end of the bed. He turned around so he wouldn't be tempted to crawl back in bed with her and breathed deeply to try and rein in his still heavy breathing.

"Um…yes we can." Rose told him as she too got up off the bed. She walked around to face him, her breath still heavy as well.

"No, I can't do that to you. Not right now. We need to figure everything out before we can move on and I…." he looked down, not wanting to meet her eyes.

"You what?"

"I'm leaving, in a couple days. I am going back to Russia for a few days to see my family."

"You…you're leaving me?" tears filled her eyes as she tried to get him to look at her.

"I'm not leaving you, I just have to see them and get my head straight so that I can come back here and be with you."

Rose then got angry, really fast. "You're leaving me? Again? What the hell was the point of you coming here at all then?" She pushed Dimitri backwards. He wasn't expecting this and fell back onto the bed.

"I have to go Rose. Just for a little while." He said, trying to sit back up. "Maybe we should talk about this with more clothing on." He reached down for his jeans and began to slide them up his legs.

"Why don't you just take your clothes and get the fuck out?" Rose yelled as she picked up his shirt and shoes and walked towards the hallway, oblivious to the fact that she was still wearing only her panties.

She opened to door and threw the shirt against the wall and then turned around and stalked over to him. "GET. OUT. NOW." She reached over and grabbed the alarm clock that was beside the bed and threw it against the wall, breaking it on impact.

Dimitri buttoned his pants and grabbed her shirt. He attempted to pull it over her head since the door was still wide open but she grabbed the shirt from him and pulled it down over herself before he could do it. "And don't touch me, I can do it myself." She backed away from him.

"You have a lot of nerve coming here just to leave. You shouldn't be here at all. You don't love me anymore. And here I am, throwing myself at you for you to be a prick. I am the stupid one in all of this! It's just like Russian, holding sex over my head to get something more out of me."

Dimitri flinched as her words but tried to reach out to her again, "Roza…."

This time Rose slapped him against the face. He took a step away from her remembering what Lissa had told him earlier. He held his hands up in defeat. At least she hadn't broken his nose yet.

"I told you not to call me that!"

He nodded, "Rose, let's talk about this please?"

"I don't have anything to say to you right now." She gave him an evil glare and he took another step back.

"Rose." Lissa said, stepping inside the doorway. She had heard the commotion of something being broken and came down the hall to investigate.

"You stay away from me too. Why did you bring him here? He shouldn't have ever come!" Rose yelled at Lissa.

Lissa took the few steps towards Rose and placed her hand on her arm. Lissa was silent for a moment as she put her thoughts into Rose.

Rose's face went from angry to pained to confused in a matter of seconds. She looked from Lissa to Dimitri who still had the outline of her hand across his cheek.

"I don't know…what…what happened?" Rose looked between the two of them.

"It's okay Rose, everything is going to be okay." Lissa pulled Rose into a hug for a moment then pulled away to look at her. "Are you okay?"

Rose nodded, "I think so."

"Do you want me to have him leave?" Lissa asked, wondering if Dimitri was doing more harm than good.

"No, it's fine." Rose stepped over to Dimitri and put her hand on his face. "I'm sorry."

Dimitri recoiled a bit as her hand touched where she had slapped him but smiled, "it's okay Rose, it's going to be okay."

Rose nodded and sat down on the bed. Dimitri looked confused at Lissa for a moment but Lissa nodded her head towards the door and turned to leave.

"Give me a minute." Dimitri smiled at Rose and went to the door behind Lissa.

They stepped out into the hall and Dimitri grabbed his shirt and shoes from the floor as he pulled the door shut behind him.

Lissa turned to him, "whatever the hell you just did, don't do it again."

"What just happened?"

"I healed the darkness out of her. She let it get to her again. At least I was able to heal it again which means she's open to the magic."

"Is that what happened earlier? Is that why she seemed to be herself for a little bit?"

Lissa nodded, "yeah, I healed some of it out of her before. It's hard to do and I can only do a little at a time. It should have lasted longer too but you obviously upset her."

"I didn't mean to. I will be more careful."

"It's okay, at least I could heal her, I have been trying but it hasn't worked the past few weeks. She can feel our bond again but obviously not completely because she isn't even aware that I healed her."

"So what should I do?"

"Don't upset her."

Dimitri nodded, "Anything else?"

"Keep her calm, it might help if you kept your clothing on as well." Lissa laughed as she took in Dimitri's still half naked body. "That might help her stay in control."

"Got it." He chuckled.

"I'm down the hall if you need me but I don't know if I can heal her much more tonight. It takes a lot out of both of us and I am just learning."

"Thank you Princess." Dimitri bowed.

Lissa smiled and walked back to her room. Dimitri went back into Rose's after putting his shirt back on.

Maybe he could help Rose get rid of the darkness. He had done it before in the cabin. He had enough strength for the both of them and it seemed as though right now they were really going to need it.

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What'd ya think? I can't have them happily ever after just yet...Please review!


	7. Chapter 7

So here is the next chapter... sorry it took a while to update but I went out of town for the 4th of July.

I am working on a new one-shot that is pretty much fluff about Rose and Dimitri on the 4th...hope you will look for it.

I have been reading so many wonderful fanfics lately but wanted to call attention to one that seems to be under-reviewed however has completely captured my attention. It is amazingly clever and I never would have thought of doing it! It is just too great and I am excited about the continuation of it as it has just began... It's called "Can You Say Weird?" by NatashaNikolova and it's # 6103475. Check it out if you haven't and leave a review!

Unbeta'd and I own nothing...if there are serious problems, please let me know.

Without further ado...

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Stop Being a Coward!

Chapter 7

Dimitri stepped back into the room and looked at a frowning Rose who was sitting at the end of the bed with only the sweat shirt on.

He pulled his own shirt over his head and walked back towards her, throwing his shoes down by the door on his way.

"Hey."

Rose looked up at Dimitri then and winced, "I'm sorry." She carefully laid her hand over his cheek where the red mark still stood out across his cheekbone.

Dimitri shrugged, "I deserved it and more. Don't worry about it." He leaned into her hand and kissed her palm.

"So you are really leaving?" She asked, her voice seemed strong again but she wasn't shouting.

"Yeah, I need to go back to Russia, sort a few things out. See my family. I'm legally dead I guess." Dimitri said this softly, hoping to not upset her again.

She nodded, "yeah, have you talked to them? Do they know?"

"No, I thought it would be better to go tell them in person so they could see me."

"They really miss you. It was hard on them, especially your mother." Dimitri looked at the concern that was etched into Rose's voice as she spoke, "I'm sorry I told them you were dead."

Dimitri was a little shocked that Rose had been the one to tell them, he had known she went there but had no idea that she was the one to tell them about his death. "You told them?"

Rose just nodded.

"Well, I was I guess. What are the chances I would come back you know? Strigoi might as well be dead, and it is dead according most. I'm glad you were there."

"I love your family Dimitri, all of them. Even Yeva, she is scary but I know what you meant now about her knowing things. She already knew about you and why I was there. She was a little scary."

Dimitri chuckled, "she can be scary I guess." He was amazed at the fondness in Rose's eyes as she talked about his family.

"She pretended that she couldn't speak English and Paul had to translate everything for me. Then she made me get up in the wee hours of the morning while I had a hangover to carry a box of bricks all the way to Mark and Oksana's. It was insane."

Dimitri let you a full laugh then, one that Rose didn't think she had ever heard grace his lips. "That's Yeva for you." He continued to laugh as he lay back against the bed, pulling Rose with him. "Why did you have a hangover? What had you been drinking?"

"At your..."she trailed off, the thoughts of his memorial service bringing sadness to her voice. "At your memorial service, they passed out drinks. I choked at first but gulped it down, not wanting to be rude. Then everyone kept passing them around."

"You didn't have to continue to drink them Rose. That's Russian Vodka, not like American "Russian" Vodka, that is the real stuff. It's like 200 proof. That stuff will knock you on your ass fast."

"I was grieving, it helped. Everyone was so nice though. They all treated me like I was your widow or something. I never even told them we were together, they just knew."

"Most people wouldn't fly halfway across the world to the middle of nowhere Russia for a funeral unless the person was important. I'm sure they assumed you were important to me if you went. I am glad everyone was so welcoming."

"They really were. It was crazy. It made me feel close to you. Part of me just wanted to stay there forever."

"Why did you leave?" Dimitri asked with hesitation, not sure if he really wanted to know the answer. He remembered a similar conversation that they had had when he was Strigoi but he knew now she would tell him the truth about all of it.

"Viktoria and I got into a fight and then Yeva told me I wasn't a strong warrior or something and I didn't belong there. She told me I had to go after you. Everything just kind of collapsed then and I had to get out of there. I was scared that if I didn't leave, I never would."

"What did you and Viktoria fight about?"

Rose stiffened, "I think you better ask her that. I doubt she had forgiven me for it yet and I don't want to have you yell at her. If she wants you to know, she will tell you."

"I can only imagine the trouble she gets into. At least she is at school now; I hope she doesn't get into as much trouble there as you did. But fine, I will ask her. If she doesn't tell me though, I will make you."

"Fair enough." Rose stifled a yawn.

"You can't seriously be tired Rose. We just slept for half a day."

"I am though. Something about emotional highs and lows. It's all getting to me. The darkness keeps coming. I gave up for a while and let it consume me but now that you are here, I think I can fight it. You always seem to give me the strength I need Dimitri. Thank you." She laid her head against his chest as his arms encircled her waist and they scooted back up towards the headboard.

"I told you Rose, I will always protect you, no matter what. Do you want to take a nap?"

Rose looked into his eyes, sending him a question that she couldn't voice aloud. "Yes, I will be here when you wake up. You need rest. You have to regain your strength." He kissed her nose and she smiled and leaned her head back down on his chest.

This was how the next two days went. They would eat then talk about anything and everything that came up. Rose talked about her trials and how well she did. Dimitri laughed when she had told him about how unfair it had been that she was given an extra trial on the bridge. He was really sad he wasn't there but Rose assured him that he was there in spirit. Neither of them brought up the daunting note that he had sent her the day of the trials.

Rose also told him about her time in Siberia and how she had gotten so close to his family. Again, Dimitri was sad that Rose had met his family under those circumstances but was glad that they accepted her so much. He was even intrigued to learn about Sydney and surprised at how they had become friends. Form his experience; Alchemists were no one's friend.

Everyone else, including Adrian, gave them their space and only Lissa would occasionally drop by with food for the two of them.

Rose was slowly regaining her appetite and seemed to be regaining some of the weight she had lost. She also looked happy but he could tell she was still fighting the darkness that seemed to seep into her whenever they would talk about him leaving.

Dimitri had to do it though and finally convinced Rose that it was the right thing to do for now. He promised her he would be back for her and they would start their life, together. He also promised that the next time he went to Russia, she would be with him.

She smiled at the thought of going to Russia with him and couldn't wait to go. She had wanted to ask to go with him this time but knew that this was something he needed to do, without her. It wasn't a very typical Rose thing to do but she accepted this and let him do what he needed.

Their last night together, Dimitri took Rose out of the room, neither had left it for the past few days and Dimitri wanted to get out of it for a while. They went on a walk through the gardens with their fingers intertwined as Dimitri pulled her into a small clearing.

"I love you Roza." Dimitri smiled and pulled her against him.

"I love you too." She melted into his arms as they looked up at the stars together.

Dimitri had had Lissa set up a small picnic so that the two of them could have just a little more time together. The area was quiet and secluded and no one would bother them. It wasn't really anything fancy but at least it was a change of scenery.

Dimitri pulled Rose down onto the blanket beside him and opened the picnic basket Lissa had set up. "How did you do this? You never left the room."

"Guardian's secrets Rose." He smiled at her scowl.

"Well I am a guardian now so you have to tell me."

"Friends, I have friends who want to help. Or rather, you have friends that want to help." Dimitri gave into her, something he had found himself constantly doing, not being able to say no to anything she requested.

"Lissa?" she questioned.

"Yep." He smirked at her and pulled out the pizza box that was still warm from the contents of the basket. He knew it was her favorite and wanted tonight to be about her.

"Pepperoni?" She grabbed the box from him.

"Is there any other kind?" He questioned stealing it back.

He sat it down on the blanket in front of them and turn pulled out a plate of brownies. He knew she still loved them and hoped that this didn't remind her of their time together in Russia.

Dimitri then pulled out a small candle and lit it. He leaned back and switched on a stereo that Rose had not noticed yet.

To her surprise, it wasn't blasting Prince or anything else from before she was born. It was a soft ballad of music that swirled in the air. She could enjoy this music.

"Look at you, going all romantic on me." She grinned.

"You bring out a completely new side of me Roza. You make me want to carry you off into the sunset." He laughed at her expression.

She grinned at the reference to his beloved western novels, "I had almost forgotten that I was in love with a cowboy."

"I'm not a cowboy, far from it. You should read them sometime, I know you would love them, the fighting and outlaws. The man always gets the girl in the end too. Maybe they are just fairytales but sometimes, I want to believe that fairytales can come true. "

"Maybe they can." She leaned over and gently kissed his lips, "I hope I get my happy ending."

"Me to Roza, me too."

They ate then in a comfortable silence, quiet conversations picking up from time to time. After they had finished, Dimitri pulled Rose up from the blanket and began to slowly sway back and forth to the music that was still billowing around them. He held her body close to his as they gently swayed to the music, neither wanting the night to ever end.

The slow swaying lead to slow kissing as both of them reveled in the feeling of the other's body against their own. Neither of them deepened the kiss for fear of what might happen. After what seemed like hours, the couple gathered the basket and trash as there was no leftover food and walked back towards the room in silence.

They had both gotten attached to the other person being with them all the time over the past few days and wanted to just enjoy the feeling of being together before it was over. They lay in each other's arms for the rest of the night. Quiet conversation and kissing sometimes accompanied the familiar silence that engulfed them.

"I will be back Rose, and I will call you every day that I am gone." Dimitri whispered as Rose's body lay snuggled up against him.

"I know. I will be here waiting for you when you get back."

"Promise?" Dimitri asked.

"Promise." Rose then sighed and let sleep overcome her as she spent her last night wrapped in her lover's arms. She was content for the first time in months.

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So don't hate me but Dimitri has to leave... it will help them in the end, I promise. Please review!


	8. Chapter 8

Here is the long awaited chapter 8...sorry it took so long to update and that it isn't as long as some of my other ones. I thought this was a good place for this chapter to end though. The next few chapters will flash back and forth between Dimitri being in Russia and Rose dealing with being a court without him. I hope you like it!

I also wanted to sent a big THANK YOU to everyone who reviewed. It's hard to keep up with them all and have failed to reply to most of them. (I am not complaing though - please keep reviewing :) ) I'm sorry! I do want to say that I am really grateful for the welcome this story is receiving and hope you will continue to read, review, and enjoy.

I have another fic called 4th of July Fun that I posted part of yesterday and today. Please check it out if you haven't. It's mainly fluff but it does have a plot.

I own nothing and nothing is Beta'd... thank you to the person who noticed that the court is in PA yet I put Dimitri in a hotel in Montana in chapter 1... I didn't even think about it but I will fix it...Pennsylvania makes more sense...

Without further ado...

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Stop Being a Coward!

Chapter 8

The night past by entirely too quickly and soon it was time for Dimitri to head to Russia. He had made arrangements to get out of the country without using his passport seeing as it now belonged to a dead man. It was good to know people in high places of both human and Moroi government.

Dimitri kissed Rose's forehead to wake her up but she didn't budge. He laughed at how sound a sleeper Rose was and decided to try a more firm tactic. He reach down and began trailing kisses from her jaw to her collarbone.

She moaned slightly and he knew she was awake. He then kissed back up to her year and grabbed her lobe in between his lips, lightly sucking on it. "Wake up Roza."

She shook her head. "I don't want to. I don't want the day to begin." She seemed immediately sad upon realizing that he was leaving her this morning.

"I know. But it has to. I'm going to miss you." Dimitri pulled her closer to him and sank his face into her hair, breathing in deeply in hopes of remembering her smell. She had a faint hint of vanilla and lavender that always seemed to follow her. Even after working out for hours on end, her sweat couldn't mask her own intoxicating sent.

Rose sat up, deciding to be strong and not make this any harder on him than it would be. She knew it was going to kill her but she just had to remember that he was coming back and that this separation was only temporary. It would make them both stronger and closer when he did return.

He had promised her that once he came back that they would be together no matter what anyone thought. They would make it. She knew he had a lot of stuff to deal with after turning back into a dhampir and wanted to support him as much as she could.

"I will miss you too. More than you know. But I don't want to start the day with tears so let's get dressed and then go have breakfast. I'm sure Lissa will be happy that she doesn't have to play delivery girl anymore." Rose laughed, trying to lighten the somber mood that had seemed to settle in the room as soon as they awoke.

She was amazed how after only 3 days, Dimitri could bring life back to her. She could laugh and be somewhat strong. She just hoped that she didn't fall back into the darkness once Dimitri boarded the plane. At least this time while he was away, she would know that he loved her and was coming back. She had something to look forward too, not all hope was lost.

Dimitri seemed to agree with her bright outlook and stood up from the bed, pulling her with him. He threw her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and walked towards the bathroom. He turned the shower on then turned towards Rose.

"Get ready. It will take you longer to dry your hair so hurry up. I will get in the shower once you are done." He spanked her butt then walked out of the bathroom, closing the door behind him.

He had been very tempted to pull Rose into the shower with him but thought better of it. The next time they made love it would be special, not hurried fucking against the wall of the shower. And he knew there would be a next time. Probably the night he got back. He already knew what the first thing he was going to do when he returned was and wanted to wait for that night to be special.

He had packed most of his stuff the day before, not that he had had that much to begin with. Rose had made space for his clothes in the wardrobe in her room and he liked the idea of sharing a bedroom and closet with her. Hopefully he would return and move in with her.

The only things he had left out were a pair of jeans, a black long sleeve t-shirt, boxers, a pair of socks, and his duster. He had left space in his luggage for the clothes he had slept in. He would have clothes to wash once he got to Russia as most of what he owned was dirty. He and Rose really hadn't been concerned with doing the laundry while they had spent their days and nights together.

Rose stepped out of the bathroom in a towel with a few drops of water still running down her neck and Dimitri wanted to take her so badly. He had his self control though, something he prided himself on and he wouldn't let it down right now. Not even for Rose. If he did, he would miss his flight and that was something he couldn't afford.

"You are so beautiful Roza." He gave her a quick kiss on the lips then stepped behind her to enter the bathroom.

"That's all I get? A peck on the lips?"

Dimitri laughed and then pulled her into a real kiss. His tongue slipped into her mouth and rubbed against hers. As quickly as it had began though, Dimitri pulled away. "I'm sorry but yes, that's all you get. We have to get going if we are going to eat breakfast before I leave."

"We could always skip breakfast…." Rose trailed off suggestively.

"We could…but we aren't going to. Get dressed." Dimitri turned and walked back into the bathroom, shutting the door behind him so Rose wouldn't be able to join him. He knew how she thought; he knew how she jumped head first into things and thought about them later. He also knew how he had to be the one to stop and think in the relationship and he couldn't sleep with her, not yet. Not until he had his head straight.

Thirty minutes later, the couple was dressed and Dimitri was pulling Rose down to a small café across the court grounds from guest housing. It had an amazing breakfast buffet and Dimitri wanted Rose to have a full breakfast. This way he knew she ate at least today before he left.

She didn't disappoint him as she piled up waffles, bacon, and sliced ham on one plate. She then put biscuits and gravy with some eggs on a second and grabbed a banana for good measure.

He ate almost as much as her. He never did understand where her food went. It was obvious that it didn't hit any part of her amazing body. He shivered as he thought of her mostly naked body before him this morning a second time. Maybe they should have skipped breakfast.

Rose washed the last of her eggs down with a glass of chocolate milk and then looked up to Dimitri. "It's time to go huh?"

He nodded gravely. "I'm afraid it is."

Rose nodded then stood up and took his hand in hers. There were a few whispers and looks that they got as they walked towards the landing strip as no one outside of their friends actually knew about their relationship yet but they both shrugged it off and concentrated on their last few minutes together.

Dimitri had managed to get a flight on one of the private jets that were leaving the academy. It would take him from Pennsylvania to New York where he would get on a human flight. Flying as a non-Strigoi was so much easier as you didn't have to worry about the time of day the flight landed.

He would then fly from New York to New Amsterdam, then from New Amsterdam to St. Petersburg. He would get on a train from St. Petersburg to Novosibirsk. From there, he had a car waiting to drive him the entire way to Baia and back to his family. The wait time in Novosibirsk was almost non-existent as he really didn't want to stay in that area any longer than necessary.

The 38 hours or so of travelling would give him time to clear his head and think about what he was doing. He could concentrate on where he had gone and what he had done. But fortunately he also had the hope for a future with Rose to prevent himself from dwelling too much on his previous life in Russia.

Lissa, Christian, Mia, Eddie and even Adrian had all come out to wave goodbye. Dimitri did have a sneaking suspicion that Adrian was only there to make sure he actually left as he didn't look to happy to have gotten out of bed at such an early hour. He didn't look to upset when he saw Rose though.

Dimitri did notice that Adrian's eyes narrowed a little as he took in the sight of his hand intertwined with Rose's but shook it off. He was the one leaving. He knew that Rose and Adrian had grown close the last time he was 'away' but this time he had faith and trust in her that she would be waiting when he returned.

Dimitri said his goodbyes to the group before him. He even pulled Lissa into a quick hug, hoping not to upset Rose but feeling the need to thank her one last time for what she had done for him.

He pulled Rose into one last hug, their millionth of the morning, and breathed in the scent of her hair one more time. "I love you and will be back before you know it."

Rose looked up with tears in her eyes, "I know. I will be waiting. Call me when you get there."

Dimitri nodded and pulled Rose into a harsh kiss that he hoped portrayed the longing he had for her, the fear of losing her again, the hope for their future together, and all the love he had in his heart. She kissed him back with an unmatched ferocity as she said goodbye.

Dimitri pulled back far enough to kiss the tears from her eyes and then turned and walked towards the waiting plane, not looking back at her for fear of deciding to say.

As he turned though, Rose noticed the one shiny streak that had fallen down his left cheek. She smiled and turned to her friends who seemed to always be there for support. She pulled them all into a group hug, even Christian who rolled his eyes but didn't pull away. Maybe even he was glad that Rose seemed to be back.

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What'd ya think? Is my writing consistent or is it going downhill? Please review...


	9. Chapter 9

Here is chapter 9. Sorry I am slow at updating. It is also a little shorter than some of the others. I will post more soon though. I have so many ideas for this fic. I do need some ideas about why Dimitri doesn't like Abe though...any thoughts? Let me know.

Also, check out my other fic if you haven't. It's called 4th of July Fun and you can get the link on my profile.

Thank you to everyone who has reviewed or added me to their alerts and favorites! You guys really are great! I am so glad you are liking my story. I have so many more ideas so I'm sure there will be more stories once this one is done.

Unbeta'd and I own nothing...

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Stop Being a Coward!

Chapter 9

Rose was lying in Dimitri's arms on a blanket in one of the gardens on the east side of court. He had just returned hours before. Just had he had told her, he was back before she really even had a chance to be away from him. She was grateful that he hadn't been gone long.

They had had a picnic again on a blanket while looking up at the stars and enjoying being together again. Rose could tell Dimitri was nervous about something but she wasn't sure what and didn't want to push him. She knew he would talk to her about it when the time came.

Dimitri asked Rose about what she had done while he was in Russia. She told him her tales of watching Adrian and Lissa practice spirit for hours. She and Lissa had also worked on the healing stuff and they had gotten a little farther. Lissa had charmed another ring for Rose to help get rid of the side effects spirit caused. It was kind of boring to Rose but it was something to pass her time while Dimitri was away. And she had had fun hanging out with Lissa, something she had missed over the past few weeks while she was barricaded in her room. She had seen Lissa everyday but they hadn't really talked or hung out.

Rose also got the feeling that Dimitri didn't want to talk about what happened while he was in Russia and seem to steer clear of that topic when she brought it up. She reluctantly let him but knew that something was going on.

They walked back to guest housing hand in hand, ignoring the looks that they got from the surrounding Moroi and guardians. They were in their own little world and everything seemed perfect. At least Rose thought it was perfect.

They had just reached her room in guest housing when Dimitri sat her down at the end of the bed. He looked nervous as he sat down beside her and took her hand. Rose, I wanted to talk to you about something important.

The look on his face made her nervous and anxious. She didn't know what he wanted to talk to her about but she hoped it was good. Maybe he wanted them to move in together or get a house or something. She let her mind wonder over the things that might make him nervous to tell her but nothing could have prepared her for the words that came out of his mouth.

"Rose, I came back to tell you in person that I am moving back to Russia for good. I'm going to work there at St. Basil's teaching combat classes. I just thought I should tell you in person instead of over the phone and I had some business that I have to attend to here before I can transfer back."

To say Rose was in shock was an understatement. Maybe she hadn't understand what he was saying. "When you say you are moving back do you mean you and me or just you?"

"Just me. You are going to be Lissa's guardian. You have to stay here. I don't. There really isn't anything here for me."

Tears kissed Rose's eyes as she looked at him, realizing he was really leaving this time. "Nothing here for you? What about me? You said you would come back and we could start our life together. You said we would be together and that you loved me. You can't just leave me again. You can't…." She reached towards him with the hand that he wasn't holding.

"Rose. Love fades, mine has. I know I said that before but this time I mean it. You are a great girl but that's all you are, a girl. I can't be with you any longer. It's not right for either of us anymore." Dimitri's face revealed no emotions that he was feeling. Not even his eyes let Rose in on how he was feeling.

"You don't mean that Dimitri. We are supposed to be together." Rose's voice cracked as she tried to stay strong.

"Rose, what do I have to say to get you to believe me? I don't want you anymore. I don't want you to go with me. This thing between us was fun while it lasted but that's all it was, fun. It's over." He let go of her hand and stood up to walk out the door.

He had just closed the door when Rose realized he had left. She was kind of in shock but decided she couldn't just leave it at that. She got up and after him. As soon as she opened the door Dimitri was standing there facing her. This time, his eyes were circled in red and his smile showed his fangs that had been returned to his beautiful face. He was Strigoi again.

"I told you not to follow me. Did you listen? No, you never do. This time I won't be nice Roza. This time your life is mine." After saying this he attacked. She was so shocked that she didn't even try to fight back.

The last think Rose felt were Dimitri's fangs sinking into her throat before she drifted off into the darkness.

Opening her eyes, Rose sat straight up in bed and grabbed her neck as a scratchy scream tried to escape her lips. There were no bite marks. She could vaguely feel that Lissa was still asleep so the bond was still there. She stood straight up and ran into her bathroom, flipping the light on as she went.

She looked at her dark brown eyes and breathed out a sigh of relief. It was a dream, only a dream. She knew Dimitri couldn't do something like that to her. He was coming back for her.

He had been gone for almost a day. He wouldn't arrive in Baia for at least another 12 hours and she had already had two nightmares. The dreams were coming back. They reminded her of the dreams she had had when he had told her he didn't love her except this time he had turned Strigoi and killed her.

The other nightmare was even worse in a way. In it, he had never returned from Russia or called her. She had waited patiently for him. She had turned old and died at court waiting on him and he never came back for her. Her entire life had flown by in mere minutes. Lissa and Christian had gotten married and had babies. Lissa had become queen. Adrian had even gotten married. She was alone, always on the outside looking in. Wishing Dimitri would return to share those things with her. She knew they wouldn't have kids but he could at least be here for her. She was still Lissa's guardian but she had ended up resenting Lissa. Lissa had children and grandchildren and a perfect life that Rose would never have. Rose did remain faithful though, till the day she died. She waited for him to return just as he promised he would. Unfortunately that was just another promise he failed to keep.

She had to keep it together. She couldn't let the darkness or the dreams consume her. She knew he would be back for her; it was only a matter of time. She could do this. She could be strong without him here to lean on. She just had to remember he was coming back for her. There was no way he would abandon her.

Rose knew she wouldn't get anymore sleep and decided to go work out in the gym. She hadn't had a good workout in weeks and she hoped it would take her mind off of everything else that she was facing at the moment.

The laps she ran only seemed to make things worse. Her mind was in a state of limbo as the past, present, and future all seemed to swirl around in her head. All thoughts seemed to drift to Dimitri.

Somehow this one man had captured her (both literally and figuratively). He had irrevocably changed her very essence. She wasn't the same anymore. She had always lived for Lissa before she met him. _They come first. _But she had never felt more complete in her life than when she was with both Lissa and Dimitri. She not only wanted both of them but also had to have both of them to live. They were the two parts of her soul and neither could survive without the other.

She might not have Dimitri at the moment but she did have Lissa. She wouldn't tell her about the nightmares because she didn't want to worry her again but maybe she could at least draw some strength from her best friend.

With her thoughts made up, she jogged her way over to Lissa's room. Breakfast was just what she needed right now. She hadn't gone out to eat with Lissa or any of the guys in forever. She had gone back to her room after Dimitri had left the previous morning in a futile attempt to sleep. Today she decided that she would be social. What could it hurt?

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Please review... and send me your ideas for how Dimitri knows Abe...


	10. Chapter 10

So here is chapter 10. Sorry I didn't update yesterday as I had planned. I really meant to but just never got arround to it. I stayed up tonight just to get this posted since I owed everyone a chapter. Sorry I am slow at updating. I hope you will continue to read and review this story :)

I have another one-shot (possible change to a story) that I posted a few days ago. It is called The Gift and it's about a Gift that Dimitri and Rose are given for all they have done. I think it is my personal favorite of all the things I have written so I hope you will check it out as well...you can find the link on my profile.

Thank you to everyone who reviewed and/or added me to your alerts or favorites! You guys are way awesome! Totally the greatest readers ever! Also, thanks for the ideas on the Abe/Dimitri relationship... I think I know how I am going to bring him into this. He will make an appearance in the next chapter or two.

Sorry for the long author's note! I own nothing as always and of course it is unbeta'd...all mistakes are of my own making!

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Stop Being a Coward!

Chapter 10

Dimitri had been travelling for the better part of two days. He was just so close to home, another hour by car and he would arrive in Baia. It was kind of laughable how no one dared to drive the long road to Baia, everyone being scared to make the trip. There were hardly ever ambushes on the road but people were frightened nonetheless.

He felt perfectly safe as he drove the rented car over the familiar paths. He not only knew the area like he knew himself but he knew that no Strigoi would be anywhere near here, even in the nighttime. They all stayed closer to Novosibirsk.

He thought about Rose the entire way home. Somehow leaving her to go to Russia felt too much like leaving home. He had never really considered America as anything other than a temporary domicile but something at meeting Rose made it a place he would give anything to stay. Even being so close to his birthplace couldn't make him feel better about being away from her. But he knew he had to do this. The next time he was here, Rose would be beside him.

He knew that he would bring Rose here someday. He was sad that he hadn't been with her the first time she had met this family. From what Rose had told him, they had gotten along very well and he knew that she was prefect in every way for him, his equal.

As the hour past on the way to his family's home, his thoughts drifted back to a conversation he had had with Yeva right before he left for America.

_***Flashback***_

"_Babushka you wanted to see me?" Dimitri asked as he stepped into the room his grandmother was sitting in. She had the crazy look in her eye and he knew whatever she was about to say would be important. _

_He had just gotten up to pack his few remaining belongings. He would leave for America in just under four hours and he had wanted to make sure everything was in order. His mother had come into his room and told him that his grandmother needed to see him, it was urgent._

"_She will heal your soul." Yeva had exclaimed as she took her grandson's face between her hands._

_Dimitri was confused, "who?"_

"_Your love."_

"_What are you talking about Babushka?"_

"_She will help heal you. Heart, mind and body. You must be open to it. Don't push her away. Your ultimate happiness rests in the hands of a child."_

_Again, Dimitri was confused. Physically he was fine, at the top of his game. His heart was broken at the loss of his best friend and charge, Ivan, but he knew that nothing could ever heal that void. _

"_A child is my love?" Dimitri laughed, he wasn't going to the states for love, it was a job. And he certainly wasn't planning on becoming a pedophile._

"_Though still a child to most, she will be your equal Dimka, your other half. Don't close your heart to her love."_

"_Babushka, I am going to America for work. I have been assigned as one of the guards to the last Dragomir Princess. I won't have time to meet anyone, even if I wanted to."_

_Yeva simply waived him off with a knowing smile, "You don't have a choice in who you love. You must accept her love or be eternally damned. She is your life, your salvation."_

"_What do you mean my salvation?" Dimitri asked, seriously wondering what the heck his grandmother was talking about. She had always given him these crazy riddles. This seemed to give him more information that most of her 'visions' but he was still clueless. How could a girl be his salvation?_

"_I don't know Dimka. I have told you all I have seen. I just know that you must go to America and prepare. Your fate awaits you there."_

_Dimitri just nodded and went back to finish packing. Sometimes his grandmother scared him. Sometimes he didn't believe the things she told him. Yet somehow they always came true._

_***End Flashback***_

Dimitri had actually forgotten that conversation until almost this moment. How could he have not realized it before? His grandmother was right, of course she was right. When was she ever wrong? Rose was his salvation in so many ways. She had healed his heart, mind, and body over and over again. She had helped his heart move on from the loss of Ivan as well as filled him with hope.

She had also saved his soul from the depths of limbo. She might not have been the person yielding the stake that save his life but she was the reason it had happened. It had taken him a while to see that. Only when Eddie had come by his cell one day to tell him of all that Rose had done.

Eddie had told him more than anyone else bothered to. Before that, he had see Lissa as his savior, as the person who had brought him back to life. While in actuality she might have physically done it but Rose had gone to the ends of the earth to complete her mission. Even after Dimitri had taunted her as Strigoi, Rose hadn't give up hope that she could save him. He really had no clue what all she had done for him until Eddie had shown up that day and told him. At the time, he had already pledged his loyalty to Lissa and broken Rose's heart. It was a blind decision that he had made, not having all the information before him. Eddie had obviously known how distraught Rose was and went to tell him of her deeds. She really was his equal, more than equal to be honest, she completely surpassed him.

His thoughts swirled in his head as he realized he had finally reached Baia. Passing through the town, he had seen that little had changed. There was a new store on the corner beside the market. It looked to be a clothing store or something. Practically everything else looked just how he had left it besides the occasional painting of one of the houses as he pulled through the residential area on the way to his mother's house.

His windows were tented so he knew no one could see in. As he pulled up in front of the familiar two-story home he paused. No one was outside in the yard but you could tell the house was full. The front door stood open behind a screen door and the curtains were drawn apart to let light in. He saw people sitting in the family room in the front and could hear their talk and laughter within.

They still thought he was dead. Where he came from, there was no turning Strigoi. You were either alive as Moroi, dhampir, or human. You weren't in a state caught between life and death. You were either alive or dead. The term undead had no meaning as it didn't exist.

Dimitri took a deep breath as he stepped out of the car and headed towards the house. He rang the doorbell as obviously no one had heard the arrival of his rental car.

A woman in her mid fifties walked towards the door. Her back was turned as she was still speaking in Russian to one of the people in the living room. His mother must be mad at one of the girls, usually only reverting to her native tongue when someone had upset her. He wondered what could have changed in the few minutes since he had heard the laughter.

She turned around and looked out the screened glass for the first time and immediately froze in her tracks. A soft whisper escaped her lips as she looked in confusion towards Dimitri, "Dimka?" She shook her head at the sight before her. A look of confusion was soon masked by a look of fear. A sound between a cry and a scream escaped her lips.

Dimitri immediately understood the look in her eyes, the fear in her yell. She was scared he was Strigoi. The shade from the house made it impossible to see his eyes and no doubt left his skin a pasty, sickly white of the undead.

"Mama." Dimitri called out, stepping back from the porch and into the sun. "It's okay, mama. I am alive. I am me."

Karolina, Sonya, and Viktoria had run to the door behind Olena along with another dhampir man that Dimitri didn't recognize.

Dimitri took in the looks of his sisters; they were all frozen in fear as they looked out of the door. The dhampir man seemed confused as he looked out behind them. He was a foot taller than Karolina and protectively stepped in front of the four women.

The dhampir man instantly crouched into a fighting stance, protecting the women behind him.

"It's me, Dimka." Dimitri yelled into the house, holding up his hands in an effort to diffuse the tension, to show he wasn't a threat.

Olena must have heard the plea in his voice as she pushed through the others and ran out the door. She immediately threw herself into Dimitri's arms and began crying. "Dimka," was the prayer that escaped her lips as the tears racked her body.

The other women and the dhampir man walked out behind her. Soon, Sonya, Karolina, and Viktoria had thrown themselves at Dimitri, all trying to find a place to hug him over the others.

Dimitri smiled at the love his family put into their cries of joy. He did not realize that tears had started silently running down his own cheeks until his mother wiped them away. Being here, being with his family was just what he needed. His heart healed a little bit more as his he took in the faces around him.

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Well there we have Dimitri's family or most of them anyway. What'd ya think? Please review!

Also...have you ever read any of the stuff on fictionpress. com? It is a sister-site to fanfiction. net. It's all original stuff though, not based on a movie, book or TV show. I find so many awesome things there and wish I would have known about it sooner...just found it a couple months ago...anyways, if you haven't checked it out you should! Thanks again :)


	11. Chapter 11

Okay, here is finally the next chapter. It is not what I was going for but every time I tried to write it, it wouldn't come out right. I finally gave up and this is what you get. I know where I want to go from here so the updates should be more regular. Sorry that it took so long, I just was stuck.

I hope you don't hate it...I honestly don't like it all that much...

Thank you so much to everyone that reviewed! You guys are totally awesome! I had my wisdom teeth removed 2 months ago and they had to go back in and remove a bone spur so I have a swolen face and have been drugged up the past few days...that's part of why I haven't updated...

I own nothing and it is unbeta'd...if you notice a mistake, let me know and I will corrected it!

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Stop Being a Coward!

Chapter 11

"Let the boy breathe." Yeva said as she slowly walked out of the house towards the reunion scene that was unfolding before her. "You don't want to send him back to the grave do you?"

Sonya, Karolina and Viktoria let go of their brother but Olena wasn't about to let him go anytime soon. Her arms were securely fixed around his waist as she began ushering him into the house.

Once they reached Yeva, Olena reluctantly let Dimitri go so that he could greet his grandmother. "Babushka." Dimitri pulled her into his arms gently, scared of how frail she looked. He didn't remember her being that thin or that old.

"Yes boy. You are back. I knew you were coming."

"Well why didn't you tell the rest of us?" Sonya exclaimed as the seven people walked back into the house.

"I didn't know for sure. I just saw it happening. You know how things can always change. I told you she would be your salvation Dimka, and in more ways than one."

"Who are you talking about?" Viktoria asked.

"Where have you been?" Sonya questioned.

"When did this happen?" Karolina asked. All three sisters seemed to be talking at the same time and Dimitri laughed as he took in his family around him.

"Let him eat first, you must be hungry." Olena exclaimed as she pushed her only son into one of the seats at the kitchen table. "I just made some black bread." Olena got him some and began pulling other ingredients out of the fridge. "I will make some of your favorite foods for supper Dimka. Is it just you? Where is Roza?"

Karolina laughed, "I thought you said let him eat first Mama."

"It's okay. I will answer all of your questions. Which one first?" Dimitri asked, breaking the bread in his hands as he nibbled on a piece. It had been far too long since he had had black bread. He never even made it for himself in the states. In all fairness, it was a little harder to get some of the ingredients there but even if they were bountiful, he probably still wouldn't have made it on his own.

There questions overlapped once again and Dimitri interrupted them. "How about I start from the beginning?"

The women quieted and shook their heads, setting in for a story. The dhampir that had been standing at the back, watching the women till that point made himself known by quietly coughing.

"Oh, Luka, I'm so sorry." Karolina stood up and went to take his hand in hers. "Luka, this is my brother, Dimitri. Dimitri, this is Luka."

"Ah yes, Guardian Garin." Dimitri shook the dhampir's hand. He had heard his sister was dating a guardian. "It's nice to meet you. I am Dimitri Belikova."

"I thought," Luka turned to Karolina, "I thought you only had one brother and he was dead."

She smiled, "he was, that's what we are waiting on him to tell us. So how did it happen, brother? How did you come back?"

Dimitri sat back down and began telling his family the story of how Rose had dropped out of school on her quest to find him and free his soul. They of course would interrupted him and tell him of the time she was in Baia, most of the things surprised him. He knew she had been there but was surprised and happy about just how much his family already accepted her as a part of it. He told them about how she thought she had killed him but she didn't and he went after her in America. His explanation did not include keeping Rose captive but he did tell about taking Lissa and Christian and how Lissa had staked him though the heart to return his soul. By the time he had finished his entire family was in shock, except for Yeva of course.

"Aww," Karolina cooed, "She saved you Dimka! She is your true love. Where is she? Why is Rose not here with you?"

"Roza is in America, I had to come here and take care of some things before we can be together. Speaking of her, I told her I would call her once I got here. Can you please excuse me for a moment?" Dimitri went out into the backyard at his childhood home and took out his phone.

He sat down on the wooden swing that sat on the back porch as he dialed the number. He smiled when it was answered almost immediately, he had been worried he would miss her as the only number she had was the one in her room.

"Hello?" her voice was like a soft blanket, spreading calmness over his body.

"Hi." He said quietly into the phone. He wasn't quite sure why he was almost whispering, it had to have been some spell Rose had cast over him.

"You made it to Baia?"

"Yes, I just got finished telling them about how you saved me. Yeva already knew of course but the rest of them were blown away by the tale. Are you listening to country music?" Dimitri was almost positive that he could recall the soft tune playing in the background of the phone. Rose never listened to country music.

"Of course not." The music abruptly stopped, "You are hearing things, too long on a plane. So will you tell your family that I'm sorry I left so abruptly?"

Dimitri knew she was changing the subject but allowed it. "Yes, everyone is upset that you didn't come with me. I had no idea how much they already loved you."

"I love them too. They are really great. I loved my time there."

"I'm glad you got along so well with them. You will have to come back with me next time."

Dimitri could hear the smile in her voice, "I would love to."

"So, what have I missed? Have you been getting out of the room?"

Rose hesitated briefly, not wanting him to know about her nightmares, "Yes, I had lunch with Lissa this afternoon and she is taking me shopping tomorrow. She wants to get a dress for some stupid Royal event that she is dragging me to on Friday."

"I'm sure it won't be that bad."

"It really will be though. You know how much I hate those things. And I wish I could go as her guardian but as I am not her official guardian still, I am going as her friend. Which means I get to dress up and wear a smile, I have to be nice and polite and you know how much I hate Queen Bitch."

"You know you shouldn't call her that and please try to have fun."

"Yeah, I will try but no guarantees."

Dimitri was a little upset at the sadness in Rose's voice, he knew something was going on but wasn't sure what. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Don't worry about me."

"But I do worry about you. I'm sorry I am not there right now. But you know I will be back soon."

"I know."

"Please have fun. If I find out you are sitting in your room doing nothing, I will be upset."

"Okay, okay. Lissa said something about going to see a movie tonight with Christian and Adrian."

Dimitri wasn't too fond of the idea of Adrian going but was okay if it would get her out of her room. "So go with them. Have fun while I am not there. You haven't left that room in so long Rose. I told you that you needed to be out and about. If not, I will find out."

Rose sighed, "Fine, I will go with them. You know, I technically never broke up with Adrian." She had told him that they were broken up before but she had to be honest with him now. She was going to break up with him anyway so it shouldn't matter.

Dimitri clinched his fists, "really? I don't think I was aware of that." Dimitri was almost positive that she had said that they had broken up.

"Tonight will give me the perfect opportunity; although I am sure he already figured it out. He hasn't even been dream stalking me lately."

"Rose, you don't have to break up with him. You know that if you want to be with him, I wouldn't stand in your way."

Rose gave a cynical laugh, "yeah right. I love you Dimitri, not him. Adrian is a good friend who I should probably apologize to for breaking his nose, but that's all he will ever be."

Dimitri was pleased to hear this, "good. I love you to Roza. I already miss you."

"I miss you too." Rose sighed, "Lissa is looking for me."

Dimitri looked towards the door as he heard a baby crying, "Yeah, I think the kids just woke up from their nap. I can't wait to meet my new nieces."

"Sonya had her baby?"

"Yeah, it's a girl. They named her Rozalie."

"Wow. I didn't think Sonya liked me." Rose laughed, surprised that someone would name a baby after her.

Dimitri laughed too, "I was told that she was moody when she was pregnant. I'm sure it wasn't you. Sonya said it was Paul's idea but Yeva thought it was a good one."

"I love you Comrade."

"I love you too Roza. I will talk to you tomorrow."

With that being said, Dimitri disconnected the call and walked back into the house. The kitchen was now filled with his sisters and their children. Paul was playing with a toy truck while Zoya and Rozalie were being rocked.

Dimitri looked down at the two little girls in each of his sisters' arms. "Wow, they are so beautiful."

"Uncle Dimka, I missed you." Paul pulled on Dimitri's pant leg, "Where did you go?" Paul had known that Dimitri had died but being so young, he didn't understand the true concept of someone not coming back so he wasn't all that surprised to see his uncle return home. He hadn't seen him in a long time though.

"Wow Paul, you have grown so big." Dimitri ruffled his hair and kneeled down to be at the boy's height.

"Yep, and I'm going to be a guardian just like you and Luka."

"I'm sure you will be amazing."

Dimitri looked around the room at his family. He had missed this. This was why he had come back to see them. Even though part of him was missing while he was away from Rose, part of him that had missed his family was finally complete.

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So? What'd ya think? Did it suck? I know where I am going now though so the next chapters should be better...stick with me!

I also wrote a 1 shot called What He Could Give Her...it's about Rose & Dimitri from Adrian's POV... I hope you will read it :)


	12. Chapter 12

Woohoo...two chapters in two days! Am I awesome or what? lol...just kidding! Anyways...here is my next chapter... I hope you like it... the next chapter is when things should get even more interesting!

I wrote a one shot early called When She Was Bad... I think its okay...not my best work but you should check it out! I have been in a one shot mood lately and it has helped me want to write more for this story as well. Hopefully I will update 4th of July Fun soon... I have the last chapter about halfway done...give or take.

I am amazed at all the reviews I have been getting. Thank you to everyone who has read my story! I hope you are continuing to like it... thank you also to all the people who have favorited me! It's crazy and awesome!

If you haven't read Final Sacrifice Blood Lust by BelleCeline then you should check it out... I stalk my email waiting for updates!

I own nothing and it is unbeta'd as always...

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Stop Being a Coward!

Chapter 12

Rose laughed as she changed the radio station she had been listening to. Dimitri had caught her listening to country music. She had hoped she covered it up though. Something about it made her feel closer to him. She half expected herself to go to the library and check out a western book as her next attempt to bring him back to her but she honestly had no idea where the library was located there at court.

She had however heard a song on one of Dimitri's stations called "Cowboy Take Me Away" by the Dixie Chicks. Something about that song got to her and she had listened to it over and over again on her IPod. She longed for Dimitri to come back and take her with him but she knew that wouldn't be happening today.

Today, she had agreed to go to the movies with Lissa. They had already had breakfast and lunch together. Rose was lucky to sneak away from her for a few hours to get a nap. She had rested okay for about 45 minutes before another one of the horrible dreams decided to materialize in her brain. She hadn't been able to sleep after that so she had turned on the radio and lay in bed waiting for Dimitri to call. She was sure he had to be in Baia by then, unless something had happened but she refused to let her mind wander down that path.

Sure enough, Dimitri had called her and encouraged her to go out with Lissa. She had been around her friend everyday for months but somehow, she felt as if she hadn't really been seeing her lately. Lissa was definitely making up for the lost time as she had a whole schedule of events planned to keep her busy while Dimitri was away.

Tonight was a movie. At least it was a comedy that she had actually wanted to see but she wasn't very comfortable with Christian and Adrian tagging along. She wasn't comfortable with Christian tagging along because she was sure that as soon as the lights went down, Christian's tongue would permanently be glued to Lissa's mouth. She wasn't comfortable with Adrian tagging along because she hoped he didn't expect her tongue to become glued to his mouth.

She had to break up with him tonight. She had been around him a couple times since Dimitri had left. He had given her a kind of puppy dog look and it had been awkward. Tonight she had to make things right again.

She stood from the chair she had been lounging in while talking to Dimitri and went to open the door. She knew exactly when Lissa was about to knock and beat her to it.

"Hello Lissa."

Lissa just smiled, "Rose. Are you ready?"

"Give me two minutes, I gotta pee."

"Thanks for sharing!" Lissa called after her as she ran into the bathroom.

"No problem friend!" Rose called out as she washed her hands and returned to Lissa. They excited the room and walked towards the lobby.

"Christian went to get Adrian and Eddie." Lissa said, looking at Rose.

"Eddie is coming?" Rose said, visibly relaxing. Eddie being there made this much less like a double-date.

"Yep. I thought it would be easier."

"Thanks Lis." Rose said as they stepped out of the elevator and onto the lobby floor. The guys were all waiting and looked relieved when Rose and Lissa showed up.

"Bout time," Christian said looking pointedly at Rose. "We are going to be late if we don't hurry."

"Yeah, cuz we will miss all of two minutes of the previews." Rose rolled her eyes but walked towards the front doors with her group of friends.

The movie was funny and Rose found herself enjoying that company. She also noticed that Christian and Lissa had actually watched the movie, for which she was thankful. She had a feeling that it was to make it less weird for her. Lissa really was a good friend. She felt bad about the things she had thought about Lissa when Dimitri had claimed his servitude to her. She knew it wasn't anything she should be jealous of. Lissa really had done a miraculous thing and Dimitri was only trying to show is gratitude. Rose felt that she owed Lissa the same adoration for saving the man she loved.

The only uncomfortable part of the movie was when Rose and Adrian had both reached for popcorn at the same time. Their hands had brushed and Rose looked up to find Adrian looking back at her. His gaze wasn't weird per say, there was no love or lust shining in his eyes, just friendship and compassion. Rose really felt that everything with Adrian would be okay. She had shyly smiled at him and turned her attention back to the big screen.

They had all gone to dinner after the movie, finding a new pizza place that had just opened the previous week. There was a buffet there too and Rose had eaten till she could hardly move. Lissa had only had a couple of pieces and Rose had told her it was a waste of money to eat at a buffet and not take advantage of all they had to offer. Rose had certainly partaken in the pizza, cinnamon rolls, brownies, and even the salad that the buffet provided. Fortunately Eddie had almost kept up with her so she didn't feel too bad about all she had eaten. She had even made fun of Adrian and Christian saying that they were men, even if they were Moroi, they should eat more than that. Rose had always had a big appetite and she, along with Lissa, was glad to see it was returning full force

After they left the dinner, Adrian asked if he could speak with Rose in private. She had been prepared to ask him as well but the fact that he beat her to the punch, made her nervous. They walked to a small part that was halfway between guest housing and the pizza buffet they had stopped at in an uneasy silence, neither knowing quite yet what to say.

Once they reached their destination, Adrian began.

"Rose?"

"Yes?" She tried to calm down her racing heart, sure that Adrian could hear it beating in her chest.

He let out a small chuckled, "Calm down, I'm not going to bite you. Unless you want me too…"

Rose laughed and just like that the tension dispersed. "I forget you have better hearing."

Adrian nodded, "I think you might be having a heart attack."

"I'm fine, just nervous I guess. I don't want to hurt you Adrian, you are such a great guy."

"I know, but you can't help who your heart wants and while I don't like Belikov, I know it has always been him that you needed. I was just biding your time while he was….away."

Rose felt tears come to her eyes. Adrian was really a great guy and would make some woman very happy some day. Who would have thought that the playboy that smoke and drank all the time would turn out to be so considerate? "You deserve better than me Adrian. You are going to find the woman that is all about you."

"I hope you are right Rose. It's not every day that we meet our soul mate though. I understand that Belikov is yours. I tried to deny it. When he was dead, I thought that I would get a shot at making you love me. And I think you did love me. But it could never compare to how you feel about him. I can't stand in the way of that. Hell, you almost died because you thought he didn't love you anymore. That's some serious shit. It's like you are two halves of a whole."

"Can we still be friends? I have come to depend on you and I don't know what I would do without you in my life."

"We will always be friends Little Dhampir. Just try to stay away from me." Adrian laughed and pulled Rose into a warm embrace. "Thank you for giving me a shot. I didn't think you would when you came back so thank you."

Rose nodded, "I didn't think I would either. But somehow you wormed your way into my heart. I really do love you Adrian. You have no idea how much I wish it was enough."

"I know. I love you too."

"You are going to find someone so amazing, someone that deserves you. And now that you are drinking and smoking less, it should be a piece of cake to find the right girl."

"I'm not going to go looking for her anytime soon but I will find her someday. May I walk you back to your room?"

"I would love that." Rose took Adrian's arm and allowed him to escort her back to her room.

"Do you think you could visit me tonight? I kind of miss having you in my dreams." Rose sheepishly looked up at Adrian. Why hadn't she thought about it before? If Adrian was in her dreams, then she wouldn't have her nightmares.

Adrian looked at her a little suspiciously, "but you hate when I dream walk."

"When had that stopped you before?"

"Never I guess."

"So will you?"

"If you would like. I would hate to interrupt your dreams of Belikov though."

"Oh no, it's fine Adrian. I have just missed you the past few weeks."

"Alright then." Adrian agreed but was still wondering why Rose would request this. She hardly ever wanted him to visit her dreams. She had to be hiding something but what was it? And why did she want him to help?

"Thanks Adrian." Rose almost sounded relieved when he had agreed. She kissed his cheek then turned to open her door. "Oh, by the way, I really owe you an apology. I am glad that Lissa could fix your nose. I am sorry that I broke it twice!"

"No problem Little Dhampir, I am sorry that I couldn't help you." Adrian really did feel bad about that. He felt as if he had forced himself into the situation and then made things worse by confronting her. He had probably deserved the broken nose by not staying out of it when she had asked him to.

Adrian also felt bad about being so enraged when Dimitri showed up. He was still upset that Belikov could help her when he couldn't but maybe he should have been happy instead of upset and yelling at Lissa for letting him try to help. The changes in Rose had been dramatic since Belikov had come back into the picture. He just hoped that everything would remain okay while Belikov was away.

He decided to pay special attention to Rose and make sure that she was really coping well. He would start his little investigation tonight when he visited her dream.

"Thanks again Adrian." Rose left him then and went into her room.

"Anytime Little Dhampir, anytime."

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So...what'd ya think? Please leave a review so I know if you are liking it or not :)


	13. Chapter 13

Okay so I am sorry that I haven't updated. But I do have an excuse...seems I always do though... This time it's a valid one. My grandfather passed away at the beginning of last week and he lives in a different state than I do. I went to the funeral and everything which took a couple days and to be honest, I wasn't in the writing mood. Then went I got home, I noticed that I didn't have my laptop charger. My grandmother was coming back through where I live so I had to wait for her to get here. I will update more often this week, I promise.

I am so grateful for all the reviews that I received. You guys really are amazing, and again I am so sorry that I took so long to update...

I own nothing and it isn't Beta'd as usual...

* * *

Stop Being a Coward!

Chapter 13

Rose had been concerned when Adrian said he was going to visit her that night. She knew she hadn't been sleeping well and worried that if he couldn't get through he would know. She was also scared that if she went to sleep the nightmares would consumer her. She didn't want to have any more nightmares which is part of why she had been staying up so late.

Dimitri hadn't even been gone that long and all things considered, she thought she had done fairly well that night. She had gone out with her friends and had a good time. It really reminded her of the carefree person she used to be.

She turned her IPod on once again and set it to a continuous turn through the country music she had pilfered from the internet. She didn't really like the music but the beat and the words reminded her of Dimitri and somehow brought him closer to her even if he was half a world away. She could maybe deal with the country but Prince just wasn't going to happen.

Somewhere during the third disc of George Strait, she slipped into a peaceful dreamless sleep for the first time in a while. The dreams weren't at bay for long when Adrian popped up.

"I didn't think you were going to go to sleep Little Dhampir." Adrian admonished, stepping out from behind a tree that graced the side of the clearing they were standing in. Rose didn't think she had ever been here before but shrugged and sat down on the weathered wood of an old oak tree that was laying across the ground in front of her.

Adrian sat down beside her and waited for her to speak.

"I was busy." Rose shrugged it off as if it was nothing, hope Adrian didn't see her breath speed up a little at the lie she was telling him.

Adrian decided to play things her way and changed the subject, "It's good to see you again, I haven't been in your dreams for a while."

"I missed you Adrian, I really did. You are important to me."

"As you are to me Little Dhampir." Adrian smiled at Rose but noticed the tightness around her eyes as she looked around in the dream. Something about the way she was waiting to go to sleep and how relived she was that it was him in her dream made Adrian positive now that she was truly hiding something. He might drink and smoke and live up to the playboy lifestyle that many expected him to have but he was smart and paid attention to his surroundings. If there was one thing that was taught to him it was to be perceptive and the vibes that Rose was giving off were screaming that something wasn't quite right.

While the rest of their conversation continued on in an amicable dialog, Adrian watched for subtle signs of what was going on. Rose seemed to melt into the discussion and Adrian almost began to believe that he had just been seeing things but as the end neared, he could tell once again that Rose was uncomfortable.

With his great hearting, he could hear her heartbeat pick up as he began to say goodbye to her. When he pulled her into a hug, he could just feel the light coating of perspiration that touched her forehead. She most certainly didn't want him to go.

He wasn't fooled into thinking it was because she needed to be with him. He knew it had something to do with going to sleep. She had after all, avoided it at all costs and was so thankful when it was him that popped up in her dream. Was Rose having the nightmares again?

Adrian had seen her nightmares before Dimitri came back. He had seen how her body shook and she cried out during her sleep. He had intervened while he could but when the nightmares became too powerful and she started resisting the magic, he had been blocked out of her dreams as well. That was the main reason he hadn't visited her dreams in so long. Then when Dimitri returned and she was doing better, he stayed out of her dreams for a different reason. At first it had been because he was mad that Dimitri could come back and make everything better, then it was because he was glad that Rose was getting better, even if Dimitri had been the reason, so he decided to back away and let them work things out.

Now Dimitri was gone again and while it might be a temporary situation, it was obvious to him that Rose was reverting to the cocoon of her former self or as he liked to refer to the time period as her 'dark days.'

He was pissed off that Dimitri had such control over her, even if it was subconsciously. Rose was always so strong and independent and it hurt to know that someone could have this effect on her. He once again vowed that he would find out some way to make everything better. Rose might have chosen Dimitri over him but that didn't mean that he couldn't still look out for her.

Rose had sighed when Adrian pulled out of the dream. She had been fearful that the nightmares would come back with a vengeance but was pleasantly surprised when at least for that night, the remainder of her sleep was deep and dreamless.

The next two days went on pretty much the same. Rose stayed in her room listening to music except when Lissa pulled her out to do something. They had gone dress shopping for the gala that Rose was being forced to attend on Thursday. She hadn't complained though since she hadn't been shopping for a while. While her mind hadn't been on such trivial things lately, it was nice to go on a shopping trip with Lissa and not have to be completely in guardian mode. Since they were shopping there at court, she even got to try on the clothes before picking out a dress. On Friday, Lissa took Rose to the spa to get their hair and nails done. Each of the girls also got a massage to help them relax. Lissa treated of course as she knew that Rose needed cheering up, the shopping had seemed to help but she just wasn't as completely into it as she used to be. Lissa wasn't sure if her lack of enthusiasm was due to Dimitri being away or if this was really just the more mature Rose that she has somehow become since their return to the academy. She was however glad when Rose seemed to truly enjoy the pampering she was receiving while they were at the spa.

Dimitri had called twice on Thursday and once so far on Friday. They had talked about what was happening at court and in Russia. Rose purposefully left out the part about her nightmares and steered the conversation to other topics. She did feel a sense of longing as she thought about Dimitri and his family. She really missed all of them and wished she was there with him even though she knew this was something he needed to do on his own.

She was battling her own demons while he was away and while Wednesday night had been dreamless and peaceful after Adrian had left, her nightmares had returned stronger than ever on Thursday night. This time when she was facing off against Dimitri on the bridge, she had succeeded in jumping into the dark ravine and water was quickly engulfing her. As she struggled to breathe, she realized that the water had actually turned into blood and she was drowning as Dimitri laughed from his perch atop the bridge. She thought she had wanted to die but now that she was facing it, she knew that she didn't. She struggled and fought but defeat seemed eminent. She had finally stopped struggling when the darkness gave way to a beautiful sunset. Adrian had appeared just in time and the two of them were sitting on one of the balconies at the ski resort that they had met at the previous Christmas.

Rose had tried to not show how relived she was at the intrusion but upon seeing Adrian, she threw herself into his arms. She realized that she was shaking but couldn't do anything to stop it.

"It's okay Rose." Adrian stroked her hair, "you are going to be alright."

"It's just hard ya know? I don't know where these dreams come from but it's like only Dimitri can keep them at bay."

Adrian began to talk to her about it but Rose and claimed that she was fine and didn't want to talk about it right then, she just wanted to sit there with Adrian. Adrian, wanting to help but not being sure how yet, decided to let her be. Together, they had watched the sun fade into the horizon.

After Rose had been thoroughly pampered at the spa, she had gone back to her room to get ready to accompany Lissa to the royal event she had been dreading for days. She wasn't sure how Lissa always seemed to drag her into these things and she vowed that the next time, she wouldn't be swayed so easily.

As she was putting the final touches on her makeup, a knock sounded at the door. Rose reluctantly got up to answer. She knew it wasn't Lissa as she could feel from the bond that she was still in her room, finishing her own look. She reached for the handle and opened the door to be met with a beautiful vase of blood red roses staring back at her.

The delivery man moved the bouquet out of his face and asked, "Rose Hathaway?"

"Yes?"

"These are for you." He abruptly handed her the flowers and turned on his heel to leave. She shrugged and pulled the buds into the room, sitting them on the table near the kitchenette. She pulled out the card and sighed.

_Roza,_

_I know that these roses pale in comparison to your beauty but I didn't think any other flower fit the occasion as well. I'm sorry I am not there. I will be back soon. Have fun tonight even if you don't want to. I love you._

_Dimitri_

Rose smiled and smelled the flowers. She had never gotten flowers before and the butterflies that were swirling in her stomach made her heart beat feel even faster. She thought back to her conversation with Dimitri earlier in the day but he had given no indication that he had a surprise for her.

She looked at the clock to see that Lissa should be arriving at her door any minute. She hurriedly finished getting ready. When she got back, it would be late in her world but about mid-afternoon for Dimitri. She would call him and thank him for the beautiful flowers then.

Right on time, Lissa knocked at the door. She entered and was immediately aware of the huge vase of flowers that covered most of the table. Lissa looked at Rose with a grin, "wow, that has to be at least three dozen Roses."

Rose laughed, "Yeah, Dimitri isn't one for half-assing things I guess."

"That's so cute Rose. They are so beautiful." She smiled and then started to pout, "Christian has never bought me flowers."

"I've never gotten flowers either. They are pretty though. They remind me of that time when we went to the Botanical Gardens in San Antonio. Do you remember that area that was full of roses?"

Lissa smiled at the memory and nodded, remembering the good times they had while they living in the human world after they had ran away from St. Vladamir's. "Come on Rose, we need to get going. I can't be late."

Rose groaned but followed Lissa out of the door, giving one last look the beautiful roses that Dimitri had managed to get delivered to her while he was still half a world away in Russia.

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So? Did you like it? Dimitri will be in the next chapter with a few suprises and like I said, I hope to update soon... Thanks for everything! Please review...I hope people still want to read this story...


	14. Chapter 14

Hey! Here is the next chapter... I want to say a big thank you to everyone that reviewed! You guys are really awesome... I am almost to 300 reviews which is totally crazy! Thanks again for everything!

I own nothing and it is unbeta'd

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Stop Being a Coward!

Chapter 14

Dimitri smiled as he looked at his cell phone. The call was from court so he knew it had to be Rose. He hoped she liked the flowers he had sent to her. Maybe it would remind her that he loved her while he was away.

He had been gone for about three days and while that normally didn't seem like a long time, it felt like forever without Rose being with him. It was amazing how someone could some so ingrained in your every being that your thoughts were always on them.

Before Dimitri had met Rose, he thought of her as an immature child that didn't take responsibility or Moroi life seriously. He just knew what the file had told him: she was a young, impressionable girl with a bad attitude and no respect for authority. She had loose morals and was frivolous.

Those thoughts changed practically the moment he had met her. From the fact that she had donated her own blood as a lifeline for Lissa to the fact that she was willing to fight an entire army of Guardians to protect the Princess, he knew that the file was wrong. While Rose might have made some bad judgments and not care about what other people though, she was strong and understood her responsibility to not only Lissa but to the other Moroi as well. She was definitely going to be a respected guardian and might even rival the reputation of her mother.

The ringing brought him back to the present as he flipped opened his phone, "hello?"

"Hi," her soft voice drifted through the phone and if he closed his eyes, Dimitri could almost imagine Rose sitting right in front of him.

Dimitri grinned, "I was worried you would be asleep or I would have called you earlier. How did the gala go?"

"Oh you know, royals all prancing around like they own the place, fighting over stupid things. There is even a rumor that the counsel is considering an age decree to make it to where dhampirs become guardians at the age of sixteen now. It's ridiculous."

"Wow, I didn't know that. But it is just a rumor right now, hopefully it won't become anything more."

"Yeah, I hope." Rose shrugged and changed the subject, "thank you by the way. The flowers are beautiful."

Dimitri noticed that Rose kind of let the rumor go. He was sure that he would have to fight her to calm her down about something as dumb as an age decree but she seemed to give it up easily. He wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

"I'm glad you liked them." He replied, thinking again at how he had decided to send her flowers. It wasn't his idea of course. Sonya had seen him moping around again and had approached him to see what it was about. She had given him a few ideas about how to be with Rose while he wasn't with her. He wasn't use to all this relationship stuff and would have never thought about sending her flowers without the input of his sister. While he had been optimistic and upbeat while around his family, they just seemed to be too intuitive of his feelings. His mother, Sonya, and Karolina had all come up to him about his poignant state and all had know immediately that it was about Rose.

His grandmother and Viktoria had yet to approach him however he knew that his grandmother had been giving him strange looks so it was only a matter of time and it seems as though Viktoria shied away from anything that had to do with Rose. He still hadn't talk to her about the argument she had had with Rose and vowed that he would approach that subject after he got off the phone.

"Did you at least have fun tonight? I know it isn't exactly your scene but I do remember how you use to at least enjoy dressing up." He remembered back to the dress that she had worn the night that they had fallen victim to Viktor Dashkov's lust charm.

Rose laughed, "yeah, the whole dressing up and getting my hair and nails stuff with fun but the party itself seemed to lack. It would have been more fun if you were there though."

"So I could secretly watch you from across the room as you follow Lissa around while I pretend to do my duties of watching the entire room?"

"Exactly! I always knew you were pretending!" Rose laughed.

"Only when you are in the room. I can't keep my eyes off of you." _Or my thoughts when you aren't even there,_ Dimitri thought.

"I seem to have the same problem with you."

"I'm not sure that that is a good thing for either of us Rose."

"I don't think it matters." She quickly changed topics once again, "I think I am going to start training again. I've been running in the mornings but haven't sparred in forever. Mikhail said that him and some of the other guardians practice in the afternoons and the gym. He asked me to join them tomorrow and I think I just might."

"I'm proud of you taking the initiative. I need to start training myself. I haven't been to the gym in a while."

"Well when you come back, we can start training together again. I miss training with you. I use to love those few hours when it was just us in the gym."

Dimitri agreed, "I miss it too."

"Do you know when you are coming back yet?" Rose asked, a hint of sadness in her voice thinking about how alone she still felt even though she was rarely alone in the past few days. Lissa dropped by her room to pull her out to eat and such. Adrian and Christian had even stopped by for visits.

"I'm not sure yet. Soon though." Dimitri sighed, wishing he were back in Pennsylvania but knowing he had a few more things to take care of first.

Rose and Dimitri continued their conversation for a while before Dimitri asked, "you must be tired. Don't you want to get some sleep?"

Rose immediately began to panic, she tried to hide the stress in her voice but somehow it managed to escape. "Oh no, I am fine. I don't need any rest, I slept late this morning."

"Rose, are you having nightmares again?" And just like that, Dimitri immediately knew what was wrong. He didn't have to be there or see her; he just had to talk to her to figure it out.

Yeah, maybe Adrian had figured it out too but only after watching her and talking to her in her dream. Dimitri just knew without even being there. Now came the big question, should she try to lie? He could always tell when she was doing it in person but maybe she could pass it off over the phone. She decided against that, if he could tell that she was having nightmares by a slight rise in her voice, he would know if she tried to lie. The only time she had gotten away with lie was when he was Strigoi and that was only because she had told him partially the truth.

There was no way she could tell him half-truths about her nightmares. He might be able to tell she was having them but she could at least keep what they were from him. "Yeah, but they aren't that bad and they are getting better. Please don't worry about me. Just get your stuff together over there so you can come back."

"Roza, if you are having trouble sleeping, maybe you should talk to someone. Does Lissa know? Maybe if you told her about it then it would help. I am always here as well, you can call me whenever you want."

"Thanks, but I'm fine really. Don't worry about it." And that was the truth. Even though they scared the hell out of her, she knew she would be fine. Just as soon as Dimitri got back, she was positive the nightmares would go away.

"Okay. But if you need anything, please call me. Promise?"

"I promise. Don't worry."

"I love you, Roza."

"I love you too, Comrade."

Dimitri chuckled, "will you ever stop calling me that?"

"Nope, probably not. I think you secretly like it anyway."

Dimitri didn't answer which confirmed Rose's suspicious. "I should probably go, I am getting a little tired." Rose looked at the clock on the wall that said 4:43PM which was 4 in the morning in Moroi time.

"Okay, I will talk to you later then."

"Bye." Rose smiled; somehow Dimitri always made her feel better. This time when she closed her eyes, her thoughts were of a happy future with Dimitri. Maybe just talking to him or something before she went to sleep would allow her to not have the nightmares.

Dimitri worriedly looked at the phone he had just hung up. _I really hope she is okay. She's strong though so she has to be okay._ He decided to call Lissa and tell her about Rose's dreams though. Even if Rose didn't want Lissa to know, he knew that Lissa could add support that just might help. He would wait till the next day to call her though since it was so late.

Just at that time Viktoria walked into the living room where Dimitri had been sitting. When she saw him, she tried to look nonchalant and hurry to the kitchen where she knew her mother was cooking but didn't make it before Dimitri called her back.

"Vik, can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Um sure but can it wait? I need to talk to mom really quick –"

"Nope, now."

Viktoria sighed; she had known this conversation was coming. She just hoped that it was later rather than sooner. She really wished she knew exactly what Rose had told him so she didn't put her foot in her mouth.

She hadn't seen Rolan since that night but had asked Sonya about it and was surprised when Sonya had confirmed that he was the father of Zoya. She was now grateful that Rose had stopped her from making a big mistake but at the time she had been so furious and said some awful things.

"So…."

"So…." Dimitri replied, figuring out if he didn't say what he knew then Viktoria would tell him more. She didn't know what he knew and what he didn't.

"I don't know what you are wanting from me, Dimka."

"Oh I think you do. It has to do with a little argument between you and Roza."

Viktoria sighed, "Well what did she tell you?"

"Nope, I want to hear it all from you. You think I don't know?" Dimitri knew how to play his little sister. He might not have been around her all that much while she was growing up since he went away to school right after she was born but he knew how to make her tell him what he wanted to know.

"Well, we had a fight about - " Viktoria was about to go into the whole messy ordeal when Olena walked out of the kitchen.

"Would the two of you mind going to the market for me? I need a few things for dinner tonight." Olena asked, not aware that she had been interrupting their conversation.

"Sure Mama." Dimitri automatically stood up to take the grocery list from his mother's outstretched hand.

Viktoria groaned, "Why can't he go by himself? I don't want to go." Maybe if she didn't have to go, she could get out of talking about the fight she had had with Rose. She was also sure that telling her brother she was about to let a moroi drink blood from her during sex couldn't have the best outcome either.

"Because I asked you both to go Viktoria." Olena deadpanned and raised her eyes at her youngest daughter. She had been harder on her since Rose had been there, she knew she had. But Rose had been so nice and always offered to do things for her, she just didn't understand why Viktoria had such a bad attitude when it came to the daily tasks. Maybe it was because she was the baby and maybe it was just because Olena had never forced her to do those things while she was at home form school. She wasn't sure which was the case but right now she was going to make her go to the market.

"Yeah, come on." Dimitri pulled Viktoria up from her place on the couch and threw his arm over her shoulder, ushering her towards the door. "You can finish telling me your story on the way there."

Viktoria frowned; there was really no way to get out of this now.

The pair had walked toward the center of town in silence, Dimitri giving her time to compose the story she was going to tell him. They had just reached the shop about two doors down from the market when Dimitri was abruptly grabbed from behind and pushed into a dark alley. He was immediately shoved into the brick exterior of the clothing store that they had been in front of.

He hadn't been a guardian for a while but that was no excuse. He was ashamed that he hadn't seen the attach coming. His skills were obviously deteriorating but he pushed that thought away and looked around frantically for Viktoria. She was nowhere in sight. Instead, he saw two stone faced looking dhampirs holding him to the wall and a very pissed off looking moroi standing just behind him.

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Who do you guys think it is? Was that surprising at all? lol... please review :) I hope to update soon!


	15. Chapter 15

Here is the next chapter...sorry I am a slow updater! I read a fic that like emotionally scarred me the other day and I just didn't have it in me to write anything. This one is a little bit longer than normal...most of you guested who the moroi was so go you!

I also had some concerns about how Dimitri wasn't a badass...sorry... I hope this chapter will placate you.

I got a record number of reviews which is totally awesome! Thank you guys soooo much! I promise I will update soon!

No beta and I own nothing...

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Stop Being a Coward!

Chapter 15

That had never happened before, Dimitri was always aware of his surroundings and was hardly ever taken by surprise, except of course by Rose but that was emotionally, not physically. Dimitri immediately snapped out of the trance he had somehow gotten himself into while talking to Viktoria and immediately snapped into action.

He grabbed one of the dhampir's hands that had been pressing across his throat and abruptly turned it backwards. Dimitri slid his on arm over the man's throat and tightened it quickly shutting off his air supply. The sudden show of strength caught the other dhampir off guard for a fraction of a second and Dimitri used it to us advantage. He used the palm of his hand to thrust up into the guardian's nose as it broke and blood immediately began to spray from the site.

The guardian that Dimitri still had in the headlock finally passed out, leaving Dimitri and the guardian with the broken nose to face off. While the other guardian might be wider, Dimitri was definitely taller and used his height and strength to his advantage. The other guardian got off one swift punch to Dimitri's right eye but Dimitri didn't even flinch. The guardian left his torso wide open when he lifted his hand up and Dimitri took the opportunity to head butt his waist which caused him to lose his sense of balance, falling helplessly on the hard dirt path below them. Before he could retain his feet, Dimitri had grabbed a lose brick off of the floor of the dirty alleyway and hit him over the head, knocking him out cold.

The abundant laugh behind him, caused Dimitri to turn and stare into the face of none other than Mr. Ibrihim Mazur, Rose's father. Abe was lavishly dressed as always in a silk button down shirt that was a dark maroon color and black slacks that screamed money. His signature cashmere scarf was rapped around his neck and the golden earrings in his ear sparkled in the sun. He was very tan for a moroi and seemed to be darker than Dimitri had remembered him.

"Zmey." Dimitri narrowed his eyes at the man in front of him, only wincing slightly at the feeling of his eye already starting to swell. The guardian sure did have one hell of a swing. "To what do I owe this visit?" Dimitri's words clearly displayed his contempt with the moroi man.

At this, Abe started laughing even harder, "Dimitri my boy. How you have grown up yet you still have that control issue I see. I am however impressed with what you just accomplished." Abe looked down at his two unconscious guardians. He had been in some pretty rough places and his guardians had taken down quite a few people without even breaking a sweat. He did know that the task that Dimitri had just completed wasn't something to take lightly. "You and my daughter really are the perfect match. Both of you have a very short temper and I'm not sure if it's bravery or stupidity but you are the only ones who will called me 'Zmey' to my face."

"Where is my sister?" Dimitri stepped up to the moroi, being almost the same height, he wasn't able to intimidate Abe my lurking over him but he could at least give him his most fierce and threatening look.

"Don't worry about Viktoria, she is in the market. I had her escorted in there to do the shopping while I stopped to have a chat."

"Maybe I don't want to chat." Dimitri turned around and started walking down the alley, back towards where is sister was.

"Maybe you don't have a choice." Abe stepped in front of Dimitri to prevent him from leaving. While Dimitri wasn't even remotely scared of the moroi, he could see why this man could be intimidating. He did have a mobster air about him and the threat in he had learned to incorporate in his voice could be very demanding and powerful. Dimitri had been scared of this man at one time but had since grown into a very strong and badass guardian. Threats of broken kneecaps didn't seem to hold the strength over him that they use to, especially not when his own guardians were incapacitated on the ground.

"What do you want Ibrihim?" Dimitri asked using the man's given name. He was still scowling but hoped to move this conversation along so he could check on his sister.

"I would like to discuss the relationship that you have with my daughter."

"What happens between Rose and myself is none of your business."

"Of course it is my business. I am her father."

"Yeah, maybe biologically but Rose didn't even know you till recently and I highly doubt she would listen to your advise on the matter."

"Maybe, maybe not, that's why I am approaching you." Abe took a step towards Dimitri, practically breathing in his face.

"I won't listen to you either, or have you forgot how I don't care what you think?" Dimitri had known Abe most of his life but hadn't really seen him since the day he kicked his father's ass. Abe and his father were friends back then and he figured they were still in touch with each other now. Abe had known about what Dimitri's father was doing to his mother but never did anything to stop it.

Dimitri had looked up to Abe while he was a little boy since he was one of the few men who were around from time to time and Dimitri was usually the only man in a house full of women. Dimitri had gone to Abe to ask for help when he was old enough to understand what his father was doing to his mother but Abe had refused to help and told Dimitri that it was not his place to interfere in a domestic dispute and that he shouldn't get involved either. Dimitri was upset that Abe refused to help and did the only thing he could by dealing with the abuse. One night though, it got to be too much. He had contacted Abe in a final attempt for help in fear that his father was about to kill his mother but Abe once again refused to aid the boy. Dimitri then took matters into his own hands at the tender age of thirteen and beat up his father. That was the last day he had seen Abe or his dad. Later, he heard the stories about Abe's unsavory exploits and began an even bigger grudge against the man who had refused to help his mother. While he was fairly sure that Abe had never beaten up any of his dhampir girlfriends, he had decided that Abe was a man that could not be trusted or treated as a friend. Abe had been so great when he was a child but quickly turned into a man that Dimitri could not stand. Just looking at him now was bringing up memories that Dimitri had long sense forgotten and wanted to keep that way.

Abe had quieted down but only slightly as he looked into Dimitri's eyes. "You really are a brave boy. Lord Ivashkov, while probably a better suitor for Rose, was more of a coward and only nodded when I threatened to disembowel him if he hurt her. You on the other hand, would never take something quite so well." The laughter that had circled Abe's face quickly vanished as he gazed into Dimitri's brown eyes with a sickly grim expression on his face. Taking a step closer, Abe leaned into Dimitri's ear as he whispered, "You hurt her once already. Thankfully you were smart enough to correct that mistake. You hurt her again and you will no longer exist to fix it. Are we clear?"

"The same thing goes for you." Dimitri shot back, just as passionately if not more, "She is my life now and if for some reason you were to ever hurt her, what I did to your bodyguards will look like nothing." A look of hatred crossed Dimitri's features that surpassed the look of pure malice he had given Viktor when he and Rose had gone to his jail cell at court shortly before his trial. He wasn't kidding then and he sure as hell wasn't kidding now, anyone hurt Rose and he would do whatever it took to correct it, even if that meant taking care of her father.

The laugh came back into Abe's eyes as his expression turned to one of amusement. "We shouldn't have a problem then. You should put something on that eye." Abe chuckled and turned away swiftly to walk towards his guardians that were just starting to come around.

"Get up you idiots." Abe commanded as he kicked one of them in the leg where he lay.

Dimitri jogged out of the alleyway and into the story then, scanning the crowd for his youngest sister. He quickly spotted her, thankfully unharmed, in the produce section staring at some potatoes.

Relived, Dimitri walked towards her, "Vika, are you okay?"

"Thank goodness you are okay Dimka. What did Abe want? He told me to come in here and I was so worried. I was going to try to do something but he pushed me into the door and had that man over there watch me." Viktoria visibly relaxed as she saw Dimitri again.

Dimitri looked towards the man in question but only saw the back of him exiting the front door. "It's okay. He just wanted a word with me."

"But your eye, it looks bad."

Dimitri grinned, only to grimace slightly as the muscles in his cheeks rose up to push against his swollen eye. "You should see the two guys outside, this is nothing. Let's get the rest of the stuff on the list and get back home."

Viktoria nodded and then grabbed a steak from the meat counter as they walked by, "maybe this will help you eye." She gently laid the piece of meat in the hand basket she was carrying.

At times like this, Dimitri missed Lissa being around to just heal any cuts and bruises he might get. He hadn't had to deal with an injury since Lissa figured out how to heal things. Even then, he had only gotten hurt once or twice because he was too distracted by the curve of Rose's hips to pay attention to her fist flying towards him. "Thanks."

Dimitri and Viktoria quickly gathered the other things that their mother requested and headed back home. This time, Dimitri was very aware of his surroundings as they walked towards their home. His conversation with Viktoria still wasn't forgotten but he didn't want to think about other things incase someone else popped up.

Upon reaching the house, Olena greeted her children at the door, shock stretching across her face as she eyed Dimitri's right eye. "What on earth happened?"

Dimitri sighed, "It's not as bad as it looks Mama. I'm really okay. I just had a little run in with Ibrihim Mazur."

"Oh dear, is everything alright?"

"Yes, he just wanted to have a chat about Roza. Everything is fine now." Dimitri really didn't want to go into more detail with his mother so he took the bags he was carrying towards the kitchen at the back of the house.

Once everything was unloaded and put away, he grabbed the stead Viktoria had gotten for his eye and then grabbed Viktoria who had tried to sneak away. "We are going to be on the back porch if you need anything."

Olena looked at her children but only nodded and began preparing the rest of supper.

"You knew I wouldn't let you off the hook that quickly Vik. Now start explaining and I mean everything." Dimitri was in a no nonsense mood and after he had just had an altercation with Zmey, Viktoria knew not to provoke him.

She started at the begging and explained the whole situation from how awesome Rose was when she came down and how she felt like they were sisters, to which Dimitri smiled at, to how Rose had had a guardian to drag her away and threaten Rolan to which Dimitri was scowling at.

"Don't worry Dimka, nothing happened." She soothingly placed her hand on his shoulder. "I really owe Rose for helping me. I feel so bad about the things I said to her."

"Next time I talk to her, I will let you speak with her. Does that sound good?" Dimitri asked, trying to keep his anger in check at the thought of his own sister being put in that situation with a moroi. He was proud that Rose had had enough common sense to put an end to it. He would have to ask Rose how she had managed to get scare Rolan off later as Viktoria didn't quite know the whole story about who the man was.

"Thank you." Viktoria smiled at her brother, happy to have him back. She was also relieved that he didn't seem overly upset about the situation. She wasn't sure if that was Rose's doing or the fact that he had already been in one fight today and didn't feel like another.

"Our guests are arriving. Can one of you please answer the door?" Olena called out from the kitchen door. Dimitri could just make out her silhouette against the screen covering the open back door.

"Guests?" He questioned, getting up from his perched position at the edge of the back porch.

"Of course, we are celebrating your homecoming." Olena smiled at her son, still so happy that he had returned.

Only about ten minutes later was their house and back yard completely full of people Dimitri hadn't seen in years. Dimitri should have known that his mother was up to something with the ungodly amount of food she had requested that they get but hadn't thought she would throw a party quite so soon.

Ever since Ivan died, Dimitri had been sort of a recluse and the sheer amount of bodies surrounding him was become overwhelming. Noticing his ill at east look, a red plastic cup was forced into his hand by his mother's neightbor, Mr. Krushkev. Dimitri sniffed the contents, the smell buring his nostrols and leaving an ache in his stomach. He quickly downed the bitter liquid. The familiar burn of the Russian vodka running down his throat was something he hadn't experienced since he had become a full-fledged guardian over seven years ago. He didn't normally drink but the happenings of tonight seemed to demand the reinforcement.

He swiftly grabbed the still full bottle from a table towards the side of the yard and refilled his glass. It was sure to be a long night.

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This chaper is probably a little OCC for Dimitri (as most of my chapters are)...if you have a problem with it, lemme know and I will try to get him back to Richelle Mead's awesomeness...Please review :) They make my day!


	16. Chapter 16

I am so sorry I haven't updated. All I can say is that I started school last week and Graduate School is much harder than undergraduate work so far. I already have a paper due!

Sorry this is shorter than normal. I will try to get more up tomorrow or Wednesday at the latest.

Thank you to everyone who reviewed and a special thanks to deliciouse and gracefish21 for emailing me and requesting that I update. Sorry again...hope everyone is still reading this.

I own nothing and nothing is beta'd.

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Stop Being a Coward!

Chapter 16

Dimitri's head was pounding and his stomach was churning. He had just gone up to bed after a long night of drinking and talking to his mother's friends and neighbors. He really hadn't known anyone there and mostly kept to himself. The few friends he had made while in school were either moroi or guardians and he hadn't known hardly anyone else that went there from his own hometown so he wasn't surprised that he hadn't known many people.

He was okay with that. He hadn't drunk alcohol in years and now he remembered why. He had gotten drunk one time when he was just starting his freshman year at school. He and Ivan had gone to a party and against his better judgment; Dimitri had drunk quite a bit. He had gotten drunk and beat up one of the moroi guys that he walked in on drinking from a dhampir girl. He had almost killed the poor kid but fortunately had managed to only get banded from social gatherings for the rest of the year. It was a miracle that he hadn't been suspended or kicked out of school for good. Only his spotless record had prevented anything more from happening.

After that night, and the next morning where he had his head in the toilet for hours, he had changed his perspective on having a bit of fun here and there. He had lost control and almost killed a moroi student that he hadn't even known. He had vowed that from that day forward, he wouldn't drink or party and he hadn't. He had taken his guardian duty very seriously and had been the post child for good student since then, graduating at the top of his class.

That was probably where he started his anti-social behavior. Not that he wasn't friendly, he just wasn't as outgoing any longer since he knew his head needed to be on the job at all times. He couldn't and wouldn't afford to be any less that 100%. He had kept to that promise though and stayed a strong guardian.

His job had taken up all of his time until he met Rose. She had opened his eyes to entirely new world. She was strong and caring and the only woman he had ever known to take the guardian job as seriously as himself if not more so. She had taught him that it was okay to live and love while still being the job. He knew that they could make it work while both being guardians. That was why he couldn't guard Lissa or anyone that Rose was guardian because Rose would always be his first priority in any situation and even though she had his heart, he had to keep his head at work when he was working.

His reputation had proven again and again that he was an awesome guardian as he had been very well known for his strength and power. Now he was well known for being the Strigoi turned guardian again. If he had any hope of becoming a guardian again, he had to get his head on straight. He had allowed himself the brief respite of drinking and being normal the previous night. From this moment forward he knew he couldn't make that choice again.

He was shaken out of his drunken musing as Paul jumped into the bed and directly onto his chest. Dimitri groaned and looked at the clock. It was 4:35 in the morning and he had only been asleep for about two hours, just long enough for the booze to start wearing off and his body to feel the side effects. Maybe drinking had been a horrible idea after all.

"Uncle Dimka, you have to get up."

"Why? It's too early." Dimitri rolled over and stuck his head under the pillow. He hadn't been unable to get out of bed in the morning since he was a teenager and his mother had come into his room of a morning and pulled all the covers off of the bed and yelled at him. Once the seriousness of his job sank in though, he was always early to rise and had made himself get use to it.

"Babushka said you have to get up now. She needs you to do some things for her." Paul wined in a high-pitched voice of a boy who hadn't matured yet and Dimitri once again groaned. "When Rose was here, Babushka got her up really early too and she hardly complained."

Dimitri rolled over and set up, rubbing his eyes as he did. "Roza didn't complain?" That really did shock him. Rose could find something to complain about at all times. She rarely kept her temper or her childish thoughts to herself and if Yeva had gotten her up early in the morning with no warning and she hadn't complained much, then Dimitri was truly proud of her. Somehow between the time they had made love in the cabin to when he had turned back into a dhampir, Rose had grown up. He wasn't sure if it was the drama and pain she had gone through while going after him or just a result of her age but she truly had matured and he was excited to get to know her all over again as a friend and companion, not just as a student. This time they wouldn't have to hide their relationship from the world.

"Not much. But probably only because she didn't think Babushka could understand her anyway." Paul laughed. Dimitri began laughing too. He remembered Rose telling him about how Yeva had pretended she didn't understand English. That could have been good or bad depending on what she had said. "She was also woken up by Babushka kicking the end of the bed." Paul laughed again remembering how grumpy Rose was. She was polite though and didn't make too much of a fuss.

Dimitri sighed but figured if Rose could do it without such a bad attitude then he could too. It was funny how things had changed and she was the one who was working hard while he wanted to relax for at least a few more hours. He knew that his hangover had just begun as he was still partially drunk.

Dimitri brushed his teeth and pulled on clean clothing. He then went downstairs to see what his grandmother wanted so early in the morning.

His grandmother preferred to speak in Russian so that is how they had conversed since he had gotten back to his family's home. It was funny how he immediately fell back into the routine of speaking partial English and Russian at the same time to his family. He had been in the United States for the past five years and during that time he had rarely used his first language except when he was feeling emotional. Sometimes he didn't even realize he was doing it. The familiar tongue came back to him with no problems, almost as if he had never left at all. When he was Strigoi, he was surrounded by English speaking people even while in Russia so he hadn't even spoken it that often then except when he was talking to one of the human servants in Galina's home that didn't know English at all.

"What can I do for you Babushka? Shouldn't you be resting?"

Yeva kicked Dimitri's shin with her shiny beige shoes, causing him to jump a little with pain. Somehow, he had never seen that coming from his grandmother. "We are going to visit Mark and Oksana. It takes three hours to walk there and we are supposed to be at breakfast by eight. We have to get a move on."

"I have the car. We can leave in two hours and still make it in plenty of time." Dimitri pleaded, wanting to go back to sleep. He didn't know if getting back up in two hours would be any better but it sure would beat walking for three hours.

"What is this? You go to America and come back lazy and disrespectful?"

"I just thought that maybe driving would be better so you didn't have to walk as far."

"No, we are walking. Let's go." The little old woman began filling his arms with boxes that were sitting on the kitchen counter. The kitchen had miraculously transformed from the dirty area full of dishes and cups left over from the party to a spotless culinary area that any chef would be proud to call his own. Yeva then took off towards the doorway muttering something and leaving Dimitri and Paul watching her leave. The only words Dimitri caught were: worthy and Roza.

Dimitri sighed and took off after his grandmother. It was sure to be a long day.

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Did that suck? Was it boring? I know not much happened but please stick with me. There is much more to come :)


	17. Chapter 17

I told you I would update today and stayed up until I did. Go me! This chapter is a little bit of a change of scenery...don't worry, Dimitri will be back soon. Thanks for all of your reviews...glad you like that last chapter. I hoped it wasn't too repetitive of the book. I will update more soon...maybe tomorrow...lots of homework so we will see.

I own nothing and it's unbeta'd as always... I honestly didn't even re-read it so if you see a lot of mistakes, let me know. Thanks!

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Stop Being a Coward!

Chapter 17

It had been hours since Rose had woken up from another terrible nightmare. This one had to do with the cave and Nathan biting Dimitri and then coming after her. She shivered as she thought about it but continued to run around the track that was just outside of the gym.

She had just finished a rather extensive work out of lifting weights and stretching before she had decided a nice long jog was in order. She had gotten out of bed almost immediately upon waking up and quickly dressed in work out clothing to come to the gym and keep her mind off of her dreams. It had worked okay so far as she had kept her thoughts on training and getting back in shape. She had seriously been neglecting her physical activity in the past few months and she longed for the days back at the academy when her world was full of training or combat classes with her Russian god.

This had changed though. Things were better now and thing would get better from here on out if Dimitri would just get back. He hadn't really been gone that long, not even a week in all with the travel time to Russia included and he had hardly been in Russia for a couple days so she really couldn't expect him back so soon but she missed him. She felt silly and ridiculous for having that much dependence on someone and knew that she had to become her own self again, the strong and independent Rose who grew up as a ward of the academy, the girl who spoke her mind about anything and thought about what she had said afterwards.

Not that Dimitri had changed her, but she had changed since being with Dimitri. Many of the changes were for the better. She had better control of her temper, was a much better fighter and in better physical shape so she could protect Lissa, and she was more mature and subdued than she had ever been in her life. But this clingieness was something she had never felt before, something that didn't feel as though it was exactly her. She needed to get back to herself. She knew she would always need Dimitri and want him but this pain from being separated and the nightmares were driving her closer to the edge of insanity.

She knew she would figure it out though as she thought about what she had learned from Anna and Vladimir. Somehow, she felt this was a side effect of the spirit within her caused by the darkness that she took from Lissa. When she was numb to the world, the darkness had been at bay. She hadn't felt any of it. Or maybe it had been that she had absorbed so much of the darkness that she was drowning in it and didn't even realize it until Dimitri had brought some semblance of light back into her life. Maybe that was why she needed him so much, maybe her body was telling her that she needed that light or the darkness would consume her and this time she wouldn't come back.

Thinking again about the nights events, she looked towards the setting sun. Everyone would be up soon and she could be around her friends. That somehow seemed to help as she found some light in them. It wasn't the same feeling she got with Dimitri of absolute ease and promise but it was something and right now, she would take all she could get.

She decided to go back to her room in guest housing to shower before finding her friends. The long workout had left her muscles sore and she had a thick coating of sweat that kept running down her temple and into her eyes, stinging if she didn't wipe it all away before it reached them.

As Rose entered her room, she thought about the fact that her and Lissa, along with Christian were still staying in guest housing. How long would the Court let them be 'guests' before they had to find a more permanent residence. Adrian of course already had permanent housing there as he had lived there for quite a while off and on with his parents between school and his time at the academy.

Rose had never has a permanent house to live in. Since she was small, her home had been the academy's walls and when she left them, she was kind of without residence. She knew she wanted a house. There were some around within the walls of Court but she didn't think she wanted to live here forever. Maybe she would talk to Lissa about it. She knew that Lissa had only been staying in guest housing in an attempt to be close to her as she would have found some place else to stay quicker if Rose hadn't been in her 'depression' for lack of a better term.

Maybe that would give her something to do until Dimitri returned. Lissa and her could find a place for Lissa to live. Rose wanted to wait to find something for herself as she wanted to talk to Dimitri about what his plans were when he returned but she knew that Lissa had wanted an apartment with Christian as she had felt it in the bond from time to time. Lissa had often thought about what life would be like after school and had always pictured herself getting an apartment and going to college. Once Christian entered the picture, Lissa had added him to her perfect after school picture. Rose knew that Lissa wouldn't mind her staying with her and Christian but there was no way Rose could live with Sparky so that left her up to her own devices to find a place to stay.

That was what she wanted to do today though: talk to Lissa about permanent housing for her and Christian. That could be fun and it would keep her mind off of more troubling matters. That being resolved, Rose got dressed for the day and headed off in search of her best friend. She was actually really excited about concentrating on something that was more lighthearted then the despaired they had all faced lately.

She had found Christian, Lissa, and Adrian in a small café down the street from the wing in guest housing that they had been staying at. Noticing the bakery rack of fresh donuts, éclairs, muffins, and croissants, Rose realized she hadn't had anything to eat yet and her stomach was growling at her, demanding it be filled. She selected two chocolate glazed donuts with a bottle of chocolate milk to wash it down. She had earned a little bit of chocolate after the workout she had done this morning or rather last night.

"Um….that is too much chocolate Rose. If you weren't dhampir I would worry about you getting fat." Christian put his two cents in after Rose joined their table and for once Rose ignored him.

"So Lissa, I was thinking that maybe we could start looking for some place more permanent to live, for you and Christian at least. Remember when we used to imagine our apartment after we left school? I think we should start making our dreams realities." Rose said the words before she thought them through and once she realized what she had said, she shivered.

"Not all dreams are going to turn into realities Little Dhampir." Adrian looked at her pointedly, remembering her confession of nightmares. He had obviously seen her reaction to the statement and known what it was about.

Lissa looked confused for a moment but answered Rose, "yeah. That would be great Rose. But why are we just looking for me and Christian? What about you?"

"I want to wait for a while before deciding where to stay long term and there is no way I want to be anywhere near you and Christian actually living together, it's bad enough getting sucked into your 'alone time' and your dreams." Rose said giving an ugly look towards Christian.

Lissa blushed but Christian laughed. He didn't like when Rose was a part of his alone time with Lissa but was happy that he made her uncomfortable from time to time without even trying. "I would really like to get out of guest housing." Christian replied, looking at Lissa again, "give us our own space to do with what we want."

Lissa's thoughts began to run wild in her head as she blushed once again and Rose made a mental note to stay away from the coffee table once they were moved in. "Okay, so let's find a house. I saw an ad for a realtor in the paper earlier. Maybe she could help us?" Lissa picked the newspaper up that she had been reading and began leaving through it again. "Here it is. Her name is Abby Badica. Let's call and see if she can meet us today."

At the mention of the name "Abbey Badica," Adrian choked on the coffee he had just been sipping. The other three at the table turned and gave him a weird look.

"Are you alright Adrian?" Rose asked, concerned at just how much the already with moroi seemed to pale at the sound of the name.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just remembered that my mother needed me to do something for her today. I have got to go. Sorry guys." Adrian coughed and wiped the liquid up from where it had spat it on the table. Fortunately, the hot fluid missed his companions. He then abruptly got up from the table, pushed in his chair, and left without another word or glance at the audience behind him.

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Did you like it or did it suck? What's up with Adrian? Please review! Thanks in advance...you guys are awesome!


	18. Chapter 18

I didn't get as many reviews with the last chapter as I have been with previous chapters. Not sure why, I guess because Dimitri wasn't there? Anyways, I wrote this today. I'm sorry I haven't updated lately but class is really kicking my butt and it has only just begun. I will probably be updating on Thursdays or over the weekend since Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday are busy class days. Hope that's okay... I finally have over 400 reviews and I am crazy impressed...you guys are awesome!

So Robert Pattison was in my hometown on Monday which created this big uproar... it was kind of weird since I live in a small town in Texas but it was kinda cool...kinda funny how crazy everyone went...

I hope you like this chapter...it has Rose and Dimitri in it so hopefully this will be liked...next chapter should be mainly Dimitri...

I own nothing and nothing was beta'd...please review!

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Stop Being a Coward!

Chapter 18

Abby Badica was tall as most moroi were. She was about 6 foot tall, being just a few inches taller than Rose. She had dark black hair and hunter green eyes that seemed almost catlike in appearance. Her curves were much more than a normal Moroi would have and both her backside and her breasts were closer to dhampir endowment but she was definitely moroi. Her petite fangs were expertly hidden while talking but she had laughed at something Lissa had said and exposed the tips.

Abby had been very accommodating and agreed to meet with them only an hour after Lissa had contacted her at the café. Abby jumped at the chance to show the last Dragomir Princess houses at court and while she was royal herself, she seemed respectful of Lissa's position. Lissa of course had insisted that Abby call her Lissa instead of Princess and soon the two were acting like old friends.

Rose had to admit that Abby was nice. She had grown up around the court as her father was one of the queen's advisers but did not fall into the snobby royal category that most royal court members had. She had been very accommodating and nice towards Rose and Christian both and Rose could tell Abby's actions were sincere.

Showing determination to find the right house, Abby had showed the trio twelve houses already. While thirteen was usually an unlucky number, they might have just found the place for Lissa and Christian to call home once the walked into the most resent home.

Rose noticed that the house was just two down from Adrian's parents home and considered call him to see if he wanted to walk over and see the two-story home they had been looking at but reconsidered when she thought back to his strange exit earlier while they were having breakfast.

Lissa brought up the subject herself though, "Adrian lives just over there. Do you think we should call him to come over? I think this could be the one." Lissa grinned as she looked around the spacious living room that connected to the chef-quality kitchen. The kitchen had French doors that opened into a huge backyard that had landscaping already perfect and an Olympic sized swimming pool taking up the right side of the yard. A huge deck came off of the house to overlook the land and Lissa could already imagine having a party back there. A small white gazebo was towards the left side of the yard, surrounded by a flower garden that seemed to be well loved. Lissa knew that her spirit ability would help her continue to grow the beautiful plants and was excited to see what her green thumb could accomplish.

The rest of the house consisted of a master bedroom with sitting area that had a huge bathroom with a Jacuzzi tub big enough for four people and a walk in closet that was fit for the queen herself. On the other side of the top floor were three spare bedrooms with two bathrooms and downstairs housed an office while the basement had a theater system and game room already set up. They had seen some nice houses, twelve to be exact, but something about this house just seemed right. The soft tan color of the walls and the just darker trim was perfect so Lissa wouldn't have to repaint or anything.

"Did you see how he ran out on us this morning?" Christian asked, "I doubt he wants to come look at houses with us. What was his problem anyway?"

Rose shrugged while Abby suddenly turned a lovely shade of red as a blush rose in her cheeks, "Adrian Ivashkov?"

"Yeah, do you know him?" Lissa asked, interested in Abby's reaction.

"No. I mean yes. I mean I use to but I haven't seen him in a long time." Abby seemed to change from having a carefree and outgoing personality into a shy little girl at the mention of the man's name.

"Use to?" Rose asked, wanting to know more. Maybe Abby would explain Adrian's earlier behavior.

"Yeah, we use to have the same tutor here at court when we were younger. Then he went away for school and I stayed here. I didn't even know he was back."

Rose intuition picked up and she could tell that Abby had had a crush on Adrian at one point in time. Maybe Adrian had liked her as well. He had turned sort of red and was quick to escape at first mention of Abby.

"I'll go call him, see if he will join us. Can I use your cell phone Lissa?" Rose asked, stepping towards Lissa. After capturing the small device, she walked towards the French doors and disappeared into the massive back yard.

Rose began dialing Adrian's number but then hesitated. There was someone else she needed to talk to before she spoke to Adrian. She quickly dialed Dimitri's phone number and waited for him to pick up.

He picked up on the third ring and sounded out of breath, which was unusual for the man. "Hello?"

"Hey." Rose's voice seemed so small and petite to his ears.

"Hi." Dimitri grinned but then groaned when the action caused his head to throb that much more. The drunkenness was gone and all that remained was a killer headache that wouldn't go away. Normally dhampirs didn't get sick or have headaches so the feeling was a much unwelcome reminder that while he might be half vampire he was also half human and drinking was not a good idea.

"You okay?" Rose asked timidly. She had no idea what could cause the man to be out of breath and groaning. A brief memory of their night together in the cabin flashed through her head but that out of breath moaning was pleasurable while this one seemed in pain. Plus, Dimitri wouldn't even think about cheating on her while he was away. That wasn't the type of man he was.

"Yeah, I'm fine. You remember Mark and Oksana?" Dimitri asked.

"Of course."

"Well, do you remember that massive stone wall around their back yard and the bricks that led through Oksana's gardens?"

"Yes, it was so beautiful out there." Rose grinned at the memory. She didn't really like to think about most of her in Russia but she remembered the little bit of downtime she had received while at Mark and Oksana's. The gardens that Mark worked in were huge and very calming to her nerves. She remembered thinking that Oksana must use spirit to help all the plans grow so big and beautiful.

"Yes, well storms came through about two weeks ago and most of the wall and walkway were torn up. My grandmother volunteered me to help Mark rebuild everything. We are even building a fountain towards the end of the pathway. It should be nice when it's done but we've been working non-stop all day long. I thought training was difficult but manual labor seems to be more rough." Dimitri decided not to tell her about the hangover part which was making him feel that much worse. He figured he wouldn't quite as out of breath if he hadn't drank so much the previous night. He nursed a bottle of water as he waited for her to respond.

Rose laughed, "did she make you carry all the bricks there yourself?"

"Most of them." Dimitri grinned; Rose's laugh always seemed to easy his mind.

"At least I am not the only one she tortures." Rose rolled her eyes at the memory glad that she hadn't been pulled out of bed before dawn for those reasons.

"So what are you guys doing? What number are you calling me from?" Dimitri turned to subject back to Rose, wanting to know what she was doing and wishing he were with her.

"It's Lissa's cell phone and we are house shopping. I think Lissa and Christian might have found the perfect one. We've only seen about a hundred today."

"They are moving out of guest housing?"

"Yeah. They have only been there for so long because of me and I know that Lissa wants to get settled and decorate and all that stuff so we have been looking at houses for most of the day."

Dimitri nodded even though Rose couldn't see him, "and you?" He didn't know what she would be doing. Would she also be moving out of guest hosing? He hadn't really thought about what they would do when he got back but he hadn't expected her to move. He had been planning on talking to her about the possibility of them living together for a while. He knew that living together was a big deal but he knew that's what he wanted. If she wasn't eighteen, he might even ask her to marry him but with her being so young, he didn't want to tie her into a decision she might not want in five years. He wanted to wait until she was older to make that kind of commitment. He hadn't even thought he would get married but now that there was a chance it could happen, he didn't want anything to mess it up. He knew that chances were good that both of them would always feel the way they did now, at least he knew he would, but he wanted to go slow and let Rose experience life before agreeing to be with him for forever. That wasn't to say he wasn't going to be with her every step of the way though, because he wasn't going to let her go again.

"Well…" she began, a little unsure of herself. "I'm not really sure. I thought I would probably stay in guest housing or in one of Lissa's spare rooms for a while before figuring out where I wanted to live on a more permanent basis." Rose didn't have to say the words _till you come back_ but both of them knew that that was what she meant.

"Good." Dimitri answered; glad she wasn't deciding where to live yet. Neither of them had had a stable home since leaving the academy. "I need to find a place to live around there too, maybe we can look together when I get back."

"That would be good." She wanted to ask if that meant they would be looking for a place to live together or if it just meant that they would look for a place at the same time but didn't really want to have that conversation over the phone. "I miss you."

"I miss you too. I should be home in a few days. My mother called Moscow to have them send the paperwork to revoke my death certificate. It was supposed to be overnighted to Baia so we should get it sometime today. Once they get it and make sure everything is in order, I should be able to head back home. I haven't been gone that long and I love being in Russia but sometimes it feels like I've been gone forever."

They both contemplated that. Something about the way he had said he couldn't wait to get home meant a lot to both of them. Dimitri knew that anywhere Rose was would be his home from now on whether they were in Russia or the United States.

Yelling in the background brought Rose's mind back to the conversation at hand. "What is that?"

"Babushka, I am talking to Roza, give me just a minute and I will get back to work. Can't I take a break for five minutes? I have been working for over five hours straight." Dimitri answered his grandmother in Russian leaving Rose in the dark. She knew he said her name but wasn't sure what the conversation going on between Dimitri and his grandmother was about.

Dimitri internally sighed, not wanting to offend his grandmother. He wasn't lazy or disrespectful as she had accused him of being and being in the US had not made him soft. He just had a headache and was working his ass off. Even during training he got a break from time to time. His grandmother was a slave driver.

"I'm sorry, I have to get back to work. I am glad you called me. It's getting late there isn't it? I will call you later if we finish up before to late." Dimitri told Rose, turning from his grandmother to walk back towards the fence where Mark was taking another load of bricks.

"Okay, call me anyway okay?" Rose was sad to hear him go.

"I will. I love you."

"I love you too." Rose replied and ended the call. She shook the thoughts of living with Dimitri out of her head and looked down at the phone that was still clutched in her hand. Now she had to make the call that she had come out to actually make. Dialing Adrian's number, she held the phone to her ear and waited.

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Was that better than the last chapter? I hope you liked it...please review :)


	19. Chapter 19

Here is the next chapter...sorry I didn't update earlier...school work sucks!

I own nothing and nothing is beta'd...Dimitri is back so I hope you like it :)

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Stop Being a Coward!

Chapter 19

Dimitri didn't want to be rude and tell his grandmother to back off but all she had been talking about for the past hour was about how Dimitri's work ethic seemed to be lagging. Before he had gone to America, he would have volunteered to help Mark repair the fence but since he had gotten back, she had had to tell him to do it.

Dimitri took her civisms and ignored them for the most part, only answering when she asked a direct question. Yeva just watched and told him how what he was doing was wrong, she never offered to help or anything. Which, in all fairness, she was a woman of many years, how many he wasn't sure, but her health seemed fine for being older than dirt.

She had stalled for a few minutes to actually get the working men some water and then started harping on him again once Dimitri returned to work.

While is native language was comfortable for him, he didn't understand why she insisted on carrying all conversations in Russian while everyone else seemed to speak English more. He didn't question her though and just listened, "You are getting to thin Dimka, you need to eat more. American's don't lack food by any means so why are you so thin?"

"I eat Babushka, I just train a lot too."

"Your guardian work is important Dimitri but if you can't even build this wall without your breathing getting hard, maybe you aren't cut out to be a guardian. I thought you were so promising. What happened?"

"Nothing happened Grandmother. I am still a strong guardian, this is hard work. Look at Mark." The pair turned to see the other dhampir man bright red and soaked through with sweat in his own exhaustion. "It doesn't help that it is 102 degrees out here either."

"It's Rose isn't it?"

"What's Rose?" Dimitri stopped lifting the bricks he was stacking and turned to face his grandmother.

"The reason why you are going soft. She has taken up to much of your attention and you are not concentrating on the job. That is probably why you were turned Strigoi to begin with, you weren't concentrating. Maybe you should stay here in Russia. She doesn't need you anyway."

That was the straw that broke the camel's back. "Babushka, while I am grateful for your words and happy to see you, I don't want you to talk about Rose in any derogatory terms. She is the reason I am dhampir again, you saw it all yourself. I love her and I am going back to America to be with her. Regardless of whether she needs me or not, I need her." His voice quivered with both fatigue and anger. He kept reminding himself that this was his grandmother and he couldn't be mean to her.

Yeva grinned at him. "Good. She needs you there. The two of you have a beautiful life ahead of you. I know you will have troubles on the way but I see you making it together. I just wanted to make sure you were good enough for her. She did come all the way to Russia to save your soul while nearly losing hers in the process." After she said her spill she turned and walked back into the house, leaving Mark and Dimitri to work some more.

Dimitri looked after his grandmother, his anger diffusing. "Did she really just yell at me for the past hour to make sure I deserved Rose?"

Mark laughed, "she is crazy sometimes but it is all for a reason. She approves of Rose for you. Rose proved herself in a similar way while she was here."

The sun was starting to set and while Dimitri was glad that the day was over, he was sad to see the sun go. One of the things he loved about being in Russia with his family was the fact that they lived on the human time so he could soak up sun all day. He missed the light while living on moroi time back at court. Something about the sun just called to him. He assumed it was like that for most dhampirs, especially the guardians since they so often had a nocturnal schedule.

"Why are you still here Dimitri? Why aren't you back in America yet? I mean I know you came to deal with some stuff but have you accomplished what you needed to? You've seen your family; they all know that you are alive once again although somehow I think that your grandmother already knew."

Just like that, Dimitri realized that Mark was right. He had been in Russia for only a few days but that on top of the travel had kept him away from Roza for a while. He felt like they had needed some time away from each other to truly understand what they meant to each other and he did. His heart ached for her while he was away from her. He knew that even if he headed back to America now, he wouldn't be there for days. Could he really wait that long to see her again? He wasn't sure.

Talking to her daily really helped but not seeing her was killing him. Its funny how when he had first been restored to his dhampir self, seeing her hand physically hurt him, almost made him sick. Now the thought of being away from her for even a moment longer made him ache with the need to hold her, feel her arms around him.

"You're right. I think I am done here. I need to get back to America, to Roza. What about all this?" Dimitri asked, looking around at the destruction that was still around them. They had done quite a bit in one day but it would take a few more to complete the task.

"I have some friends coming in tomorrow to help me. They would have helped us today but Yeva insisted that you needed to do the work. I have learned not to question such things, she is kind of scary." Mark laughed as he looked towards the house. He could just make out three shadows that had to be sitting at the table; no doubt one was his wife while Paul and Yeva were the others. Paul had been forbidden by Yeva to help even carry bricks out to them and only popped in from time to time to ask about what they were doing. The rest of the time he had been helping Oksana make cookies in the kitchen.

The thought of a child helping Oksana in the kitchen warmed his heart. Their children were grown and living on their own but had yet to provide any grandchildren for them yet. Their son, the oldest of three, was away in Moscow attending college while their daughters had both recently married and moved to a neighboring town. They had hopes that grandbabies would be in the picture soon.

Dimitri laughed, agreeing with the man's assessment of his grandmother. He had been around her most of his life but she still gave him the chills ever so often. "Okay, if I am around tomorrow, I will be back. I need to get back into town and see about getting a plane back home."

Mark sat down the trowel he had been holding and clapped a hand on Dimitri's back, "please come back to see us soon, bring Rose with you."

"I will." Dimitri shook his hand and took off towards the house. They had a lot of ground to cover to get him before it got to dark and Dimitri sighed, wishing now he had insisted on bringing the car. It wasn't safe to be walking out at night even though most Strigoi kept to the cities.

His grandmother and Paul were waiting by the front door as if they knew it was time for them to leave. Oksana had offered to drive them back home but Babushka said she knew that it was safe. No one questioned her logic and took off for the long walk back towards Baia and their home.

The walk seemed to be fast this time, probably because Dimitri was not weighed down with bricks and had thankfully fought off the headache and the hangover. He was also anxious to get back home and make arrangements for his trip; he couldn't wait to get back to Rose.

He knew she would be surprised that he was already coming home and had decided not to tell her anything when he called her later. He just hoped he could find a flight out that wasn't days away and didn't have too many connections. Flying halfway across the world was exhausting and just the anticipation of his trip already had him on edge.

They met no opposition on the way and Yeva's predictions about their safety had been correct, something Dimitri was very grateful for. Walking with an elderly woman and a small child after dark would have been a bad situation had any trouble showed up.

Paul's incessant rambling about how he was going to be a guardian just like his uncle made the time less monotonous and before Dimitri knew it he was walking up the steps in front of his childhood him and ushering his nephew and grandmother in ahead of him. He immediately went into the kitchen and picked up the airline information he had already compiled and began to make the appropriate calls.

Two hours later he was pissed off and mad at the world. How could there be no flights into the United States for the next two days that weren't already booked? Even if he could get to Moscow or Novosibirsk tonight, there wasn't a plane leaving the area that wouldn't take him way out of the way and make it an even longer flight. He could try to fly standby into Amsterdam but he was told the chances of him actually getting on that flight were very slim as the standby list was already rather long.

"It will be fine Dimka." Olena sat down opposite her son at the small kitchen table and smiled at him, "you will make it home to her."

"I'm just frustrated. I didn't know when I would be leaving or I would have made flight arrangements sooner. I'm sorry to stay for such a short time; I just need to be there. Something tells me I need to get back to her."

"You're in love." Olena smiled at her only son. "I'm so happy you met her. She is wonderful Dimka. She fits in so well here. You have to promise you will come back and visit."

"We will." The words of his mother confirming just how much Rose belong there with him made him almost giddy. He had known that they would accept Rose but he had no idea just how much they would love her as their own. The time she spent there had truly made her part of their family even though they thought he was dead. This just solidified the notion that he and Rose were suppose to be together even more in his heart.

"Why don't you get some sleep, it is very late. Maybe something will open up in the morning." Olena suggestion to her son.

Dimitri sighed, his mother was right. He wasn't going to find a way back tonight, maybe tomorrow would turn up some route to the US that could get him there quicker. He was exhausted after the long day and thought sleep might do him some good. He was close to losing control of his anger and needed to cool down.

"Goodnight Mama." Dimitri kissed his mother's cheek and headed upstairs to the room he had been staying in while he was there. It wasn't the old room he had grown up using but Victoria had taken that one over as it was bigger than hers had been. It was comfortable and served his purposes so he couldn't complain.

"Things will look better in the morning." She called after him. Once Olena knew Dimitri was safely upstairs, she picked up the phone on the wall in the kitchen and dialed the familiar number. She knew she could help get him back home sooner and also knew just the person that could do it.

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So, who do you think Olena called? Was Dimitri's decision to go back to the states to fast? Will he be able to get there quickly? Please review to find out!


	20. Chapter 20

I have no excuse...thank you to all the people who reviewed or messaged me to update!

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Stop Being a Coward!

Chapter 20

Rose looked down at the phone in her hand in disgust. Adrian had refused to meet her. He had flat out said he was not at home and would not come over to any house that Lissa and Christian might be looking at. More than that, it was a lie! She was practically in his front yard and could see the light on and someone moving around in his upstairs room. He had told her that he wasn't even at home but had refused to say where he was.

It was so unlike Adrian to refuse Rose anything. Even more strange was how the mere mention of Abby's name had put him in a tizzy. He had almost hung up on her when the first thing she had mentioned the beautiful realtor. Only when she changed the subject and started talking about being in the neighborhood had Adrian agreed to stay on the phone with her for more than five minutes. He had listened to her plea but then abruptly turned down her offer to meet them and hung up on her.

Rose was not someone who got hung up on and this turn of events left her decidedly unhappy. She marched the few feet across the street to his front door and was about to ring the doorbell when the front door opened and Adrian walked out, bumping into her.

"Um hello?" Rose asked, reaching for Adrian to steady herself. She hadn't expected him to be running out the front door of his house.

"Sorry, I…." Adrian trailed off as he realized it was Rose standing in front of him. "What are you doing here?" He had been in a hurry to get out of his house before she showed up but he hadn't realized she was practically already there.

"Coming to see you. How could you hang up on me?"

"Geez Rose, where you standing in my front yard when you called? Stalk much?"

"I was across the street with Lissa and Christian." Rose pointed behind her to the house that was for sale that they had been looking at earlier.

"Oh. I didn't realize you were directly across the street."

"Um yeah, because you were too quick to hang up on me. That was rude Adrian." Rose narrowed her eyes at him, remembering her anger once again. "And you lied!"

"I didn't lie, I was about to leave. I have to go do some stuff."

"You said you weren't at home."

"Well I wouldn't have been in about two minutes!" Adrian retorted, getting frustrated as well.

"You could have said you were about to leave, you didn't have to lie to me."

"I'm sorry Rose, I just have to go. I have some stuff I have to do."

"Like what? And why are you being so sketchy about Abby? I know you use to know her."

"I'm not being sketchy Rose, I am just busy. Sorry, but I really have to go and no, it's none of your business where I am going." Adrian stepped past her. He felt a little bad for being so rude to Rose and lying to her. He was never one to lie to Rose but he just couldn't see Abby. It had been years since they were in school together but he still couldn't see her, he couldn't face her.

Rose began to follow him. "Adrian."

"No, Rose. Leave me alone. Don't push this, please." Adrian was pleading with her.

After all Adrian had done for Rose, she couldn't deny him this. "Fine, I will let you go for now, but don't think this is over just yet."

"Just drop it Rose."

"I can't."

Adrian sighed. He shook his head and then took off towards his car that was parked in the garage attached to his parent's home. He laughed at the thought. He still lived with his parents, even if it was temporary. One more reason he couldn't see Abby Badica.

* * *

Dimitri was woken up by the sound of someone going through his clothes. He had put most of his clothing away in the chest of drawers and the wardrobe but a few shirts were scattered around the room.

That was the one area where Dimitri was not as good as he could be. Something about cleaning a house was never something he cared to do. When he was younger, he helped his mom with going to the grocery store and things like that but he was never expected to clean as that was not a man's place in the home. His mother, grandmother and sisters had always taken care of everything around the home.

Being spoiled like that had carried over into his adult life and while he did do his own laundry, his cleaning skills definitely lacked. When he was home, his mother would always fuss over him. It was nice not having to wash clothes or clean his own dishes.

That was why he wasn't all that shocked to see his mother folding his clothes but he was confused as to why she was putting them back in his suitcase. He couldn't leave for a few days and thought packing this early was unusual. He would have to live out of his suitcase until he was to leave and he hated living out of a suitcase.

"Ma?" Dimitri's scratchy voice filled the air and startled his mother who had her back to him.

"Dimka, I was just about to wake you. You must get dressed. You are leaving for the airport in one hour. You must get back to Roza."

"But I couldn't get a flight." Dimitri replied, still fighting off the sleep that had captured him.

"I got you a flight. You must hurry. A car will be here to pick you up in one hour. You get ready while I finish packing up your things."

Dimitri was shocked for a moment. He really didn't know what to say. Somehow he mother always came through for him when he needed it and right now was one of those times she had gone above and beyond. He wasn't going to question how she had managed to do the impossible; he was just going to be happy about it.

Dimitri jumped out of bed. "Thank you mama." He kissed Olena's forehead and grabbed the clothes she had placed on the arm chair beside his bed then hurried down the hall to take a shower. He was going to see Rose and he couldn't wait.

He showered and shaved then pulled his wet hair into a ponytail at the nape of his neck. His hair always dried straight so he never bothered with a blow dryer.

He hurried from the bathroom and was greeted by the smell of bacon and other breakfast delights wafting through the air, waking the few people who still slumbered. Viktoria came out of her room at the end of the hall pajama pants and a pink tank top. The flannel pants rode up to one of her knees, exposing a Minnie Mouse sock that she wore beneath and the palm of her hands were rubbing her still closed eyes.

"What time is it?" Her voice was husky, obviously still suffering from the effects of sleep.

"Early, it's not even six yet." Dimitri responded, briskly walking towards the stairs in an attempt to make sure everything was ready to go. The excitement of getting back to the states was getting to him.

Viktoria shuttered, "then why is everyone up making such noise?"

"I'm leaving today, come down and eat breakfast with me." Dimitri didn't want for her response and descended the stairs towards the awaking feast.

"What do you mean you're leaving?" Viktoria asked, walking after him. He obviously didn't hear her because he failed to respond. It was too early to yell, even for her. She looked back towards the comfort over her bedroom but then shrugged, if Dimitri really was leaving, she wanted to spend a little more time with him. She had just gotten him back after all and he was her only brother.

Viktoria greeted the small group of people sitting around the table. Olena, Yeva, Sonya, Karolina, and Dimitri were all in their usual spots. The scene looked strange to her and it took her a moment to realize it was quiet with the nosy chatter or crying of the children.

"Wow, its quiet down here." Viktoria said, her voice finally reaching its normal level.

"Yes, the children are still asleep." Karolina looked happy and relaxed at not having to constantly watch Zoya. Paul on the other hand was a different story, he wouldn't be up for at least two hours and would probably go straight to the cartoon channel, not bothering anyone until he got hungry a few hours later.

Even Sonya looked happy that she didn't have her newborn daughter hanging off of her arm for a moment. Both women glanced at the baby monitors sitting on the kitchen cabinet, hoping they didn't jinx the situation and wake up their children.

"It's always quiet this early in the morning. I am surprised to see you up Viktoria." Olena said as she sat a plate of food down in front of her youngest child.

"Dimka said he was leaving. Is that true?" Viktoria asked her brother who was sitting across the table from where she had sat down.

"Yes, I am going home." Dimitri smiled, still on cloud nine that he was getting back to Rose.

"I never thought I would see the day that you considered somewhere else home Dimka. I mean I knew you wouldn't be here very often after you became a guardian but I didn't think you would prefer to be somewhere else." Sonya said, a little hurt coming through in her voice.

"This will always be a home to me. You all know that right? But my home is now with Rose." Dimitri said in a uncharacteristic show of romanticism.

Karolina laughed, "and I never thought I'd see the day that my baby brother fell in love." She smiled when a light blush covered Dimitri's cheeks. Very few things could make the man turn red like that and his mother and sisters teasing him just happened to be one of them.

The other women at the table smirked at Dimitri but none of them commented. "You will have to come back with Rose soon Dimitri. We miss her too." Olena responded and everyone seemed to agree. The way his family has already accepted Rose as part of them warmed his heart once more.

"We will as soon as I find a place to live and a job. Once we get settled, I'm sure Rose would love coming back too."

"You will come to visit us again in time. I await the surprise." Yeva finally spoke up. She had been watching her family correspond but had not said anything until that moment.

"What surprise?" Dimitri asked, curious as to what was going to happen now. His grandmother and her freaky way of knowing things always made him weary. At least this time, she made it sound as though something good was on the way.

"I do not know. I cannot see everything. I just know you will come back to us different than how you are now. Exactly what the change is, I am not sure but I know it is a blessing." Yeva nodded at her grandson and began eating again.

The girls began chatting away about what the changes could be. Dimitri heard wedding and babies both mentioned in their chatter but disregarded both ideas. Rose couldn't have his child as they were both dhampirs and he had already decided he was going to wait till she was older to ask her to marry him. He didn't get to give the subject much thought when the door bell rang.

"Ahh, that will be your ride Dimka. You must hurry to make it to the airport."

"I almost forgot, what about the rental car? I should have just driven it back to the airport. I need to return it."

"It's all been taken care of. You must hurry though." Olena pulled Dimitri into a final hug after the others had each had their turn at goodbye. While tears were fresh in their eyes, no one let them fall for fear of making everyone cry.

A bittersweet feeling washed over Dimitri as he said his goodbyes. He was going to miss his family so much but at least he would get to see Rose. Dimitri grabbed his bags that his mother had finished packing and hurried out the door.

A limo sat at the curb of the street. It was just a plain Lincoln Town Car, not a stretch limo or anything fancy but Dimitri paused for a moment, wondering who on earth his mother knew that would send a limo to pick him up. He waived off the thought as the driver picked up his bags and placed them in the trunk.

"We must hurry sir. The flight is already being delayed for your arrival and I'm not sure how much longer they will wait. We have quite a drive ahead of us as well." Dimitri shook his head and climbed in the back door that the gentleman was holding open for him.

No one was seated inside the car as he sat back and watched the scenery fly by outside the doors. Dimitri knew that this trip just might be the longest of his life.

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I promise I won't take as long to update this time! Please review!


	21. Chapter 21

Okay, so it took me a little over a week but at least it wasn't a month like last time! Sorry about that again :/

Over 500 reviews! You guys are totally awesome...thank you so much...keep up the good work...can't wait to hear your thoughts on this one!

I own nothing as always and nothing is beta'd so mistakes are all mine!

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Stop Being a Coward!

Chapter 21

Rose was more determined than ever to find out what relationship Adrian had with Abby Badica. She knew that they knew each other from court tutors when they were younger but she had no clue how close their relationship might have been.

Her mind wandered to the various things that she thought Adrian could be hiding. He had probably slept with her and never called her again or was a complete dick to her afterwards. That seemed like something 'playboy' Adrian might do. She had been warned about his drinking and sleeping around, how he really was a bad boy but something about that image and the look in his eyes whenever Abby was brought up just didn't feel right. Something different had happened.

Had Abby broken his heart? Was she the real reason he had turned into a playboy? Something about that conclusion just didn't seem right either. She was too nice and didn't give off the 'heartbreaker' vibe. Maybe she had changed over the years to the pleasant woman Rose had met this morning. Or maybe this was just a front she put on when she was being a realtor. Rose couldn't be sure but Lissa could usually pick up on sketchy people and she seemed to like Abby just as much as Rose did.

If neither of them broke each other's hearts then what the heck happened? Abby seemed to remember Adrian in a good light so Rose didn't think she was harboring hateful feelings towards him and Adrian seemed more scared of the situation then ashamed or mad.

There was only one thing she could do and that was go directly to the source. Rose marched back across the street and into the house that would soon be her best friend's.

"Abby?" Rose yelled as she marched into the front door.

"Yes Rose?" Abby called from the kitchen that Lissa still seemed to be looking around with glazed over eyes. If Rose didn't know that Lissa was smitten with the place, the drool on her chin would have given it away.

"I have a question, what exactly was your relationship with Adrian?" Direct and to the point, that was the Rose Hathaway style. She wasn't going to beat around the bush anymore.

"Well, we didn't really know each other all that well. I told you how we had the same tutor here at court right?" Abby asked and Rose nodded. "He was always so nice but terribly shy. He hardly would talk to me at all. Ms. Berkovich was our only tutor that set up our sessions like a classroom. We usually met with our other tutors for one on one sessions but Ms. Berkovich actually had us all come in together. Adrian was assigned to be my lab partner. It was like an Animal Behavior class. Anyway, while we were lab partners, Adrian would hardly ever talk to me. He seemed to be popular with the other kids and always talked to them but anytime I showed up, he got really quiet and wouldn't talk to me or look at me. And I tried to talk to him away from class but he was always so shy, he would find reasons not to be around me. I have to admit though, even though he ignored me, I had a little crush on him. I always thought he was cute and seemed like a nice guy." Abby's cheeks reddened at her confession and she looked down at her feet, not wanting to meet Rose's gaze.

"Adrian was shy? Are you sure you are talking about Adrian Ivashkov? Great-nephew of the Queen Adrian Ivashkov?" Rose replied, wanting to make sure that they had the same guy. The Adrian she knew was never quiet or shy. She couldn't get him to shut up sometimes.

Abby nodded, "yeah, that's the one. It's weird though, I heard that he had a reputation before I moved to court of being a lady's man but he never came on to me, hardly spoke to me at all. I guess he just didn't like me that much." Abby's voice was a little sad. "Then he transferred to that school on the coast and I haven't seen him since."

"Oh no, I know he liked you, I just can't figure out why he wouldn't hit on you or try to get in your pants. The Adrian I know doesn't let anything stop him once he is on the trail of a pretty woman." Rose commented, her mind turning with this information. How could Adrian of all people be shy?

"This is the one, we will take it." Lissa seemed to snap out of her trance and look back to Rose and Abby. "Oh, Rose, I didn't even know you were back."

Rose laughed, she'd never seen Lissa completely lose it like that. This had to be THE house for them.

"Shouldn't you speak with Christian about it first?" Abby asked, pulled her attention away from Rose and back to Lissa and the sale.

"I'm pretty sure that we can't pull him out of the theater room for long enough to say yes so my decision is the one that counts. I love it. Where do we sign and when can we move in?" Lissa laughed, Christian still hadn't reappeared. Lissa knew that Christian loved the house as much if not more than her and certainly wouldn't object.

"I will have to have the offer drawn up and I will need a cashier's check for the down payment. Then we submit the bid to the sellers and if they accept we just have to wait till the close date to sign the final papers. Then everything is yours. The house has been on the market for a while so I think we can negotiate the price a little bit and I know the sellers are eager to get rid of the place since they moved out of the country just over two months ago. If we pick a fast close date, I don't see why we couldn't have you moved in within two weeks."

"Think we can rush it a bit and have it done by next week? I can't wait to get out of guest housing." Lissa replied, excitement threaded through her voice as she jumped up and down in the kitchen, eager to get the ball rolling.

"As long as they accept the offer, I don't see that it would be a problem. Why don't I go back to my office and get the offer together. I can meet you somewhere in about," Abby paused to look at her watch before looking back towards Lissa, "an hour and a half? You can sign the paperwork and I can fax the offer to the seller's realtor. Can you get a check from your bank?"

"That shouldn't be a problem." Lissa replied.

"Great. I will see you then. If all goes well then you just might have your answer tonight, tomorrow at the latest." Abby grinned at Lissa. She was always so excited by first time homebuyers. Their enthusiasm seemed to be contagious and Abby caught it every time, just like the flu when it came around.

"Let me go get Christian and we will go to the bank. I can't wait!" Lissa was so excited about this being her first home. It reminded her some of the home she had grown up in but much more modern. It definitely suited her and Christian. There were plenty of guest bedrooms as well so hopefully Rose would live there too, at least for a little while. The best of both worlds. Lissa grinned at Rose and Abby and ran towards the game room that she figured Christian would be enamored by.

The gears in Rose's mind were already spinning. If she could get Adrian to meet them before Abby showed up then she could see just how Adrian would act around her now. She didn't believe for a moment that Adrian could by shy, especially around a woman, but seeing is believing and that's just what she planned to do.

Knowing that Adrian was mostly likely going to be at his favorite place around this time of day, Rose asked Abby, "so what do you think about meeting at Joe's?"

"The bar?" Abby asked, perplexed as to why Rose would want to meet at the bar.

"Yep, I think it is the perfect place. They can sign the papers then we can have a celebratory drink." Rose smiled at Abby.

"Sounds like a plan." They had just agreed on the place when Lissa and Christian showed back up. Christian was grinning from ear to ear and Rose knew that he definitely agreed with Lissa decision to purchase this place.

"This place is perfect." Christian smiled as he walked up to the other two ladies, his right hand clutching Lissa's left.

"Well let's get going then." Abby said, showing them out. "I will drop you off at Court National and then head to my office. Can you guys make it to Joe's or should I pick up back up?"

"It's only a few blocks from the bank." Rose relied, "we can make it." Abby nodded and unlocked her car. Lissa and Christian needed no further direction and jumped into the back, still extremely happy and oblivious to the world around them.

"Alright." Abby smiled at the trio as she pulled up outside the bank. "I will meet you at Joe's."

Rose, Lissa, and Christian smiled at the realtor and got out of her vehicle. "Come on guys, let's hurry. We have to beat Abby down to Joe's"

"Why are we going to Joe's anyway?" Christian asked, "Adrian will probably be there and he was acting like a douche this morning."

"He is the exact reason we are going there Christian. But you can't mention anything about Abby meeting us to him or he will bolt. I wanna see what happens when they run into each other."

"Do they know each other?" Christian asked, still oblivious to what was going on with Abby and Adrian.

"Yes they know each other, were you not listening earlier or is your brain stuck in buy a house mode?" Lissa asked, giggling at her boyfriend. "Although I don't blame you. Come on," she pulled Christian's arm towards the correct office in the bank, "let's get that check so we can buy our new house."

Lissa literally had stars in her eyes and Rose was really happy for them. The house was amazing and she knew that she would have fun there too. Moving them in would definitely keep her mind off of Dimitri. She really wished he would be back soon.

After business was taken care of at the bank, Rose rushed Lissa and Christian the few blocks down the street towards Joe's. She was ecstatic when she saw Adrian's BMW sitting in front of it. She figured he would be here even though it was only 5 o'clock. They had about thirty more minutes before Abby would meet them.

"Remember what I said guys, absolutely no mention of Abby meeting us here. Just say that you found a house and we are celebrating but don't bring her up okay?" Rose reminded Lissa and Christian of what she was planning for about the fifth time on the short walk from the bank.

"We got it Rose, geez!" Christian shook his head, "you know, maybe you shouldn't be meddling in other people's business."

"You know, maybe you should keep your mouth shut before I put a boot in your ass." Rose replied in a sickly sweet voice as she gave Christian a saccharine smile.

Christian rolled his eyes, "I'm just saying that I think you are playing with fire and it isn't your element."

Rose narrowed her eyes at him and Christian put his hands up in defeat, "I had nothing to do with this. Don't come crying to me when it blows up in your face Rosie."

"And don't call me Rosie!" Rose hit him across the back of the head.

They had just reached the door and entered to find Adrian at the bar by himself. The poor guy looked a little defeated and you could tell he had had a drink or two.

* * *

Dimitri sighed in his seat. They had reached the airport in just enough time for him to be escorted through security and onto the plane. He still wasn't sure who his benefactor was that had gotten him on the flight but he was grateful. No one had met him at the airport and no names had been mentioned that he was aware of.

He was in first class, which was something new for Dimitri as he had never ridden on a commercial plane in the first class section. He had ridden on private jets that the Academy owned and on Ivan's private jet but something about riding with a bunch of humans made a commercial jet different. The lady on the next row had her teacup poodle, Baby, under her seat and she kept talking to him as though he were more than a dog. He was surprised she hadn't bought a seat for the tiny white mut since she was obviously enamored. He'd never seen anyone coo so much over an animal. The lady had practically pulled out her wallet before takeoff to show all the passengers pictures of her lovely little fur ball.

Some movie about vampires that sparkled in the sun was playing and Dimitri laughed at the ridiculous thought. He chose to ignore the movie and read his favorite Louis L'Amour novel, _Frontier, that_ had been packed in his carry-on. He was glad his mother had remembered to stick that in there for him. No matter how many times he had read that book, it always excited him.

His flight was scheduled to land in Amsterdam in a little over an hour and he would be switching planes to a private jet that obviously belonged to whoever had gotten him on this excursion. Not wanting to speculate on just who that might be, Dimitri settled in and let himself be pulled into the old west, ignoring the lady talking to her dog as well as the old man beside him that was not only snoring but had a thin line of drool escaping the left side of his mouth.

An hour and a half later, Dimitri was finally able to got off the plane he had been on since Novosibirsk. The pilot had held all passengers on the plane until the teacup poodle was securely back in his crate. His owner had snuck the dog out when the flight attendants weren't looking and he had been sniffing up and down one of the isles. The dog had gotten a little too close to Dimitri and as animals did not like dhampirs, he had gone crazy. They finally found the little guy hiding behind the first aid kit in one of the cabinets in the flight attendants quarters. How he had gotten into the room without them noticing and opened the cabinet to hide will always be a mystery.

Dimitri laughed a little at the face the women had given him when they were getting off. It was like she knew he was different but wasn't quite sure how. A tall dhampir man was waiting at the gate to show Dimitri the way to the private part of the airport.

He was escorted onto the tarmac and still didn't recognize anyone that had helped him. No one spoke to him at all; they just knew who he was. It looked as though the entire staff were dhampirs which was not surprising seeing as most of them had been working in the hot sun.

A small dhampir woman who obviously was not a guardian showed him to the plane while the other man took his bags around to what Dimitri assumed as the luggage compartment.

The woman, Mary if her nametag was correct, showed Dimitri up the stairs and into a cool airplane cabin. The air conditioned room was a nice change even though Dimitri loved being out in the sun.

Dimitri looked towards the back of the plane where he could just make out a mass of red curls over the back of one of the seats. The color was one he would recognize almost anywhere.

Just like that, it clicked. He felt kind of dumb for not figuring out what was going on sooner but right now he didn't care, he just wanted to get back home to his Roza. He took a deep breath and headed towards the back of the plane.

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Please review :) I wanna know what you think... I promise to update soon!


	22. Chapter 22

So I am finally updating...sorry it took so long...school kicked my butt but it is Christmas break so I plan on updating a lot more and finishing this fic soon. Thanks for sticking with me!

Unbeta'd as always and I own nothing...

Please review!

* * *

Stop Being a Coward!

Chapter 22

It had worked so far. Christian had kept his mouth shut and Rose was playing along, not mentioning anything at all about Abby meeting them. They hadn't even brought up the subject of the house except as a simple reply when Adrian had asked what they were doing there.

Rose had simply replied that they had found a house and wanted a drink to celebrate. While Rose normally did not drink around Lissa or much at all for that matter, she figured that just one wouldn't hurt. Since they were at court, they could legally drink at the age of 18. It took a lot to get moroi and dhampirs drunk so they didn't adhere to the rules of the human world where 21 was the accepted age.

Rose had cheerfully steered the topic to safer ground and the quartet were currently laughing about how Eddie had slipped while chasing after some royal's 5 year old little girl who had kicked him in the shin for 'being a meanie' when Eddie refused to let her into the gym the day before.

"So he fell into the fountain?" Adrian asked, laughing.

"Yeah, the little kid had gotten up on the edge of it and Eddie followed and fell right into it. You shouldn't have seen it!" Rose chortled as she remembered the scene unfolding before her. Adrian hadn't heard about it as he had been at some function for his aunt. "He stud up with this pissed off look on his face. He was soaked."

Christian piped up over his laughter, "and the kid, she just ran off. We had to hold Eddie back from going after her again."

"She was just a little girl." Lissa giggled.

"I can imagine." Adrian laughed, feeling better than he had all day. It was nice to sit and talk to his friends about meaningless stuff instead of having to fight with and avoid them.

Just as those thoughts past through Adrian's head, none other than Abby Badica walked into the door of the bar. She spotted the group immediately and walked towards them. Adrian stiffened at the sight of her.

"Hi guys." She smiled her gentle smile as she looked from Lissa and Christian to Rose and then spotted Adrian. Her smiled faltered for the briefest moment as she scanned over his stylishly messy brown hair to his perfect white smile.

She was lucky to get a glimpse of his smile for a second before it pulled into a grimace. Abby, seeing this as a sign of disappointment, did not even acknowledge Adrian but instead turned to Lissa and Christian.

"I have the paperwork. If you just want to sign it really quickly, I can get it back down to my office. That way I won't disturb you." Her eyes briefly flashed towards Adrian again but he didn't look as though his mood had changed.

"Why don't you sit down so they can go over the papers?" Rose smiled and nodded to the empty chair by Adrian. They had moved to a table away from the bar when they had joined Adrian and only one seat remained unoccupied.

The old wooden table had five mismatched chairs sitting around it which rubbed against each other in an attempt at seating. The dusty bar was run down and the furniture that seated guests seemed to be random pieces collected here and there by the owner. No two pieces matched in the entire place. It gave the bar an eclectic funky feel that seemed to be popular with the moroi at court.

Abby nodded, sliding the chair out from its secure position between Adrian and Lissa. She stepped around the chair, brushing Adrian's arm that was resting on the chair as she did so.

As her bare arm touched his for a brief moment, sharp tingle ran down Adrian's spine causing an intake of breath to whistle through his lips.

Abby, obviously feeling similar effects pulled her suit jacket back on the moment she was seating, hoping to cover the chill bumps running up and down her arm. She mumbled an incoherent "sorry" before turning to Lissa and Christian.

Adrian had dropped his arm into his lap and leaned away from Abby, her body being this close to his had put him on edge and he could feel heat radiating through her body and into his. It was a familiar warmth that he had never felt around anyone but her.

Rose had watched the interaction with interest and a huge smile spread across her face towards Adrian as his face immediately turned towards her. He narrowed his eyes at her grin and abruptly stood up from his seat, toppling the fragile chair over in his wake. "I've got to go." His words came out harsher than he had intended and his voice seemed to scratch in his very dry throat.

The people surrounding the table as well as its occupants turned to face the tall moroi. Abby's eyes caught his for the briefest of moments and Adrian registered what he thought was hurt flash in them before he turned on his heel and stormed out the door.

"I told you this wasn't a good idea Rose." Christian chimed in, watching the door slam shut after the upset man.

Rose gave Christian an evil glare and abruptly left to follow Adrian, "I'll be back."

Her legs fell right back into their familiar routine as she ran after Adrian. He was fast for a moroi but was no match for the strength and endurance she had built up in her guardian training. Quickly, she was by his side and actually slowing her strides to match his.

"Go away Rose." Adrian pushed himself as hard as he could to out run her but both of them knew his attempts were futile. He finally gave up as he neared one of the courts fountains. Most moroi were at home during this time so the area was private. Adrian slumped down and put his hands in his head, gasping for breath.

Rose stopped just in front of him. Her breath was not remotely hard and she winced as she saw how labored Adrian's breathing had become. "Smoking will do that to you." She clapped a hand on his back, trying to lighten the situation.

"I said go away little dhampir, I don't want you here." His cheeks were tinted pink but Rose somehow knew that was more from embarrassment then from the run.

"I don't get it Adrian. Why don't you want to be around Abby? This isn't the lady's man that I have always known." Rose questioned, taking a seat beside him as she listened to the water run from the mouth of a cherub into the pond below.

"You wouldn't get it Rose. Abby is the one girl that has always terrified me. I think she is a big part of why I over compensate with every other woman I meet." Adrian said, a little bitter that one woman could make him act so irrational and so childlike.

"Maybe there is a reason for it. If you would just talk to her, I know that there might be more there and you…"

Adrian quickly cut her off, "no Rose, I have told you time and time again. I do not want to be around her but you just don't listen. You think because you have found "the one" that everyone else has a soul mate out there too and it is your job to force them into it." Adrian got to his feet; anger started leaking into his words that surprised Rose. He had never been flat out angry at her.

Before she could say anything, Adrian continued, "it is not your place. I have told you time and time again to back off. If I decide to talk to Abby then that will be of my own doing, not yours and your selfish need to make things right between us. I get it, I do, you have your 'one' and that makes you feel guilty for how you treated me. I know! I see it in your aura. But that doesn't give you the right to continually butt into my business."

"Adrian, I'm sorry, I didn't know…." She trailed off, not sure how to explain. It might have partially been out of guilt that she wanted to see Adrian happy with someone but more than that, it was that he was her friend and something about the look in his eyes a few minutes ago when he saw Abby had been familiar to her. It was the look she saw in Dimitri's eyes when he looked at her. If she could just make Adrian see what was right in front of him.

"Of course not. You are too busy trying to look out for everyone else to stop and think that not everyone needs saving, least of all by you. You wanted to still be friends with me but you won't leave me alone. At least when you were messed up you didn't hound anyone. Now that Dimitri is away for a few days, you are back in Wonder Woman mode trying to fix things that aren't broken. I thought catatonic Rose was bad but this Rose just might be worse. I thought we could be friends but maybe we just can't." Adrian glared down at her. He had stepped directly in front of her and she had looked up to see the mean glare on his face. His eyes reflected the truth behind his words.

Rose was shocked. Adrian had never spoken to her so callously before, least of all tell her she had a savior complex that she needed to get rid of. That's what she did though, she save everyone else. She owed them all for being there for her when she was lost.

Rose looked down at her hands and let the realization that he was being with his words sink in. Adrian didn't want her around; he didn't want her trying to fix his life when it was working find as it was.

The thought of losing Adrian made her heart hurt. He was only a friend now but the thought of not even having him as that left a pain within her chest.

Still fragile from what had happened before, Rose stood up. "I'm sorry. I was trying to help." A tear escaped her eye as she turned from Adrian and ran towards her room.

"Shit." Adrian cursed, he hadn't meant to be so mean to her, it was just that she pushed too hard. The old Rose could have taken it and he had thought she was back but maybe she hadn't made it all the way back yet. "Rose, I…" Adrian called after her but it was too late. She was already gone.

Still spent from running so hard to get away from her, he knew there was no way he would catch up with her. Instead he turned to go back towards his house. He had to think of a way to make things right with Rose.

* * *

Dimitri walked down the aisle towards the infamous Janine Hathaway. As he neared her, he looked over her features, so different but so similar to Rose's.

He could tell that Rose got the shape of her eyes and lips from her mother but the coloring of her hair, skin, and eyes was all her father. At the thought of Zmey, Dimitri's eyes scanned the small interior cabin of the plane. The personal jet no doubt belonged to him as little extravagant touches of gold and plush velvets befitting the moroi man adorned every surface that wasn't a dark cherry wood. Said wood was so high polished that you could see your reflection in it from across the room.

Dimitri stopped in front of Janine and looked carefully at her, not sure how she would feel towards him since their last conversation. Her guardian mask was firmly in place, revealing none of the feelings that were whirling around in her head.

"Guardian Belikov." Janine nodded, defaulting back to formalities as she always seemed to do. Dimitri's thoughts ran over the title in his mind. He wasn't a guardian, at least not officially. He didn't have a charge and had left court to fly halfway across the world.

"Guardian Hathaway, please call me Dimitri." He reminded her of their conversation that had really just days before but felt like weeks.

"Dimitri." Janine nodded. "I am glad we are meeting on better terms this time. Please have a seat. Ibrahim is in the back, he should be up shortly."

Dimitri nodded, "thank you."

"Does your eye hurt?" Janine asked, nodding to the still bluish bruise coving half of his face. He had almost forgotten its existence in the rush to get back to the states.

"It's fine. I had forgotten about it actually." Dimitri's fingers skimmed the still tender skin just under his eye. He managed to keep from wincing as there was still some pain left. Out of sight, out of mind seemed to be the case with injuries.

Janine nodded, knowing all too well the difficulties that they sometimes faced. A dhampir such as Dimitri would be able to ignore the pain with no problems. It was more of an eye sore than anything.

They sat in silence, waiting for Abe to join them in the seat beside Janine. Dimitri had taken one of the seats that faced where Janine was sitting in a sort of alcove towards the back of the plane.

After only waiting for about two minutes, which felt like much more to Dimitri, Abe joined the group with his bodyguards taking the seats towards the front of the cabin. Dimitri narrowed his eyes at the pair, noticing his handiwork still displayed across both men's faces.

"Dimitri, so glad you could join us." Abe smiled as he took the seat by Janine. He extended his hand in a show of goodwill towards Dimitri. It seemed that now Dimitri was going back home, Abe had no problems with the man. Except for the fact that he had slept with his daughter who happened to be a minor at the time. Dimitri accepted the handshake and tried to squander any ill feelings he still had toward the man.

"Thank you for getting me back sooner." Dimitri replied, not really sure what to say to the parents of his girlfriend. _Is that the right word? _Dimitri questioned himself. _Girlfriend? That sounds too unimportant for what she means to me._

Drawing his attention back, Abe laughed. "I told you, it is where you belong. If I can facilitate getting you back there then I have no problems. Rose wants you close and she shall have what she wants. I am lucky to have recently purchased this fine jet. My prior means of travel were lacking and most depended on the human world but now I can come and go as I see fit. Janine and I plan on visiting Rose much more often." Abe smiled at Janine who had carefully been scrutinizing Dimitri since he began his conversation with Abe.

"I believe that you are clear and what Ibrihim and I both want for our daughter. While we do not approve of how the relationship started seeing how she was a minor, we are going to do whatever we can to see that it continues as long as that is what Rose wants. If, at any time and for any reason, Rose decides she no longer wants you then you have also been told what will happen. You hurt her and you will be dealt with." Janine usually didn't default to threats but it seemed as though her time spent with Abe seemed to be rubbing off on her. She might not have been there for her daughter when she was younger but she was going to do everything she could for her now.

"I understand. I love her. She's my everything and if the day comes where she wants to walk away, I would let her but believe me when I say that I would never do anything to hurt her or force her down that path." Dimitri replied, more at easy since Rose's parents seemed to have said their peace again.

"Not intentionally. But if you do, even accidentally, we will not hesitate to take actions. Now, you must be tired, feel free to take a nap. The flight from Novosibirsk was very long and there is still quite a journey ahead of us. You haven't contact Rose to let her know you are coming home have you?" Abe asked, obviously done with the unpleasant topics and prepared to move on.

"I haven't had time. Is there a phone I can use?"

"How about we keep it a surprise?" Abe asked.

Dimitri nodded and leaned his head back against the plush reclining seat. His eyes were already starting to droop; he really did need some sleep.

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Sorry I took so long to update! Please review... I am already working on chapter 23 and hope to have this finished soon! Again, school is out for Christmas so I will have time to write! Thank you to everyone who has reviewed :)


	23. Chapter 23

Yea! New chapter in less than a week! Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas! Sorry I took a while to update but I was too caught up in the holidays that I didn't get a chance to write!

I own nothing and this is unbeta'd... please let me know what you think! Thank you to everyone that has reviewed, favorited or is following this story! You guys are awesome...hopefully this chapter is a surprise and will give you a little of what you want!

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Stop Being a Coward!

Chapter 23

Dimitri settled into the comfort of a dreamless sleep. The complete darkness that encompassed him during slumber was one of the few things besides Rose that could bring him peace. His brain was not constantly fighting with his past in those rare moments of complete oblivion.

He knew he had been out for a while but the edges of his consciousness started to flicker with a type of white light that he was not familiar with. All too soon he was sucked back into reality.

Or at least he thought it was reality. Looking around, he found himself at a place that he knew he couldn't be. He was back at the ski lodge that the school had visited so long ago. He was out on a deck during the day light, looking out over the snow covered mountains as the sun beat down on his face. He could actually feel the warmth seeping into his skin and he relished in its heat.

He wasn't quite sure what was going on. He knew he had to be dreaming as his consciousness was fully aware that he was actually on a plane somewhere over Europe at the moment but everything felt so real. Sadness touched his heart at the thought of everything that had happened since he had been at that very place. More than anything, Dimitri wished he could go back and change things he had done since his trip there that felt like forever ago now.

As he turned to look at the building he was met by an unexpected visit.

"Belikov." Adrian nodded towards the tall dhampir, trying unsuccessfully to keep the sneer out of his voice.

As Dimitri studied the moroi he questioned his own sanity. This felt like a dream but it also felt very real. He knew he wasn't really at the ski lodge but he also knew that if he was dreaming, it would be of Rose and not of Adrian Ivashkov.

"It's a dream." Adrian answered Dimitri's unspoken question. "All of this," he gestured to the surroundings by spinning a finger in the air, "is the figment of my imagination."

"If it is my dream then how is it your imagination?" Dimitri asked, voicing the first words he had spoken since waking up in the strange world of unreality.

"I'm dream walking Belikov. Seriously, keep up!" Adrian scoffed; Dimitri was a little slow on the uptake but his first dream walking with anyone usually left them confused. Most of the time people actually believed it was still a dream even if he told them otherwise. "Nice eye by the way." Adrian motioned to Dimitri's still bruised eye.

Dimitri ignored his comment as realization dawned on him. As Adrian explained what was going on he finally understood where he was. He had heard that Ivashkov could do such a thing but had no idea how real it actually felt. He had never really thought about how it would feel since he never figured that his dreams would be the ones invaded.

"Why are you here?" Dimitri asked. "Did something happen to Rose?" Dimitri immediately knew the only reason that Ivashkov would visit his dreams; it had to have something to do with Rose.

"Well yes and no." Adrian said evasively.

Dimitri was standing in front of Adrian in two strides. He looked down at the moroi man with his fiercest guardian face. The look was downright terrifying but Adrian did not change is demeanor. It might hurt like hell if the big bad Russian hit him but at least it was just in a dream and no physical harm would come to him.

"What happened to Roza?" Dimitri asked, his Russian accent leaking out, weaving a heavy bite into his words.

"Well, nothing happened to her. I just wanted to ask that you get back soon. She is fine and all, I just said some things that upset her and I am trying to make amends." Adrian's voice was strong but an undercurrent of fear permeated the sounds.

"What did you say to her?" Dimitri asked. He was definitely not happy. If Adrian had come to him for help, it had to be fairly bad.

"Oh, something about how she needs to butt out of other people's business and that not everyone needs saving." Adrian said, attempting an nonchalant response.

"And what did Rose do?"

"I'm not really sure. She took off and I'm not sure where she is. I am pretty sure she is in her room right now but she won't answer the door. I'm kind of worried about her. Hence why I am here…" Adrian was now showing some of the real concern he had for Rose. Dimitri could see the truth in his words as he listened to Adrian recount what had happened.

Dimitri sighed, "She's tough, give her some time. I am pretty sure she should be okay now. There isn't a lot I can do halfway around the world."

"That's why I am asking you to come back soon. I know she is tough but after recent events, I just don't want this to set her back. That's why I thought maybe you could help in another way?"

Dimitri looked confused, "I will do anything I can, what did you have in mind?"

"Give me a minute." Adrian held up one finger as he sat down at the wooden table and chairs that was on the edge of the sundeck. Dimitri watched as Adrian seemed to be concentrating on something only he could see.

"I've never tried this before so I don't know if it will work. But the principal is the same so technically it should." Adrian closed his eyes and really concentrated on what he was doing.

After a few minutes, Dimitri rolled his eyes and walked back to the edge of the deck to look at the beautiful view. He would have to return to this lodge sometime with Rose; sometime when they could make happy memories instead of the awful ones that clouded their views. The only way he was going to get past the past was to make a future.

"What the hell Adrian?" A voice that Dimitri would recognize anywhere filled the area and Dimitri held his breath as he turned around to face her. He was still at the side of the deck and she had yet to see him.

"I told you to go away and leave me alone, not dream stalk me. Let me go back to sleep!" Rose yelled, walking towards Adrian.

Adrian sighed but Dimitri wasn't sure whether it was in relief that it had worked or in frustration at Rose's words. "I have told you time and time again Little Dhampir, you are asleep."

"Yes, but you are disturbing my dreams. Let me go back now." Rose was still visibly angry at the moroi and attempted a harsh look of her own. That was when Adrian noticed the puffy redness to her eyes and cheeks. She had been crying and he bet that she had cried herself to sleep. The vulnerable Rose was still there but she had her harsh cover camouflaging it from anyone who didn't truly know her.

"Oh come on, it can't be that bad." Adrian was being blasé once again, shrugging off Rose's obviously bad attitude.

"It can't be that bad?" Rose obviously still had not noticed the other presence in the dream but Adrian was looking intriguingly at Rose and Dimitri who was still behind at the other side of the deck. "You are an ass Adrian, I was trying to help."

"I know Little Dhampir, I told you I was sorry and I am here to make it up to you. I really didn't mean what I said, I just was upset. The thought of Abby makes me crazy and I act irrationally. Please forgive me?" Adrian smiled sweetly at Rose.

"How is this going to make it better? You bring me to the ski lodge where there are bad memories to begin with." She gestured to the mountains around her. "At least I am properly dressed, is that what is suppose to make everything better?" She noticed for once she wasn't in the skimpy outfits that Adrian usually dressed her in when he dream walked but jeans and a thick black ski jacket. She could feel a black turtleneck underneath and looked down to see black snow boots on her feet. Black earmuffs completed the ski bunny look. Her mind vaguely thought that the boots were cute and she could still kick ass in them but then she turned her thoughts back to the situation.

"No." Adrian smiled. "I have other things in mind."

Rose growled and started walking towards the moroi. Dimitri recognized the stance and immediately rushed towards her. He considered for a moment that he should let Rose hit him but then decided to give the guy a break as it had been his doing that was allowing him to see her at the moment.

Just before Rose reached Adrian to punch him in the nose, one strong arm wrapped around her waist and the other closed over her clenched fist that she was about to use to swing.

Rose immediately stiffened, not expecting anyone else to be in the spirit dream. Just as she was about to fight off her attacker, the familiar smell of his aftershave and his warm breath just behind her ear stopped her. The sweet Russian words that she did not understand being spoken in her ear allowed the rest of her body to relax and she leaned back into the man she had missed for far too long.

"Dimitri." His name left her mouth in a whisper and had he not been so close to her, he would not have heard it.

"My Roza. I have missed you." He murmured, equally as soft. He turned her in his arms and pulled her into a hug, their bodies fitting intimately together despite her bulky clothing. Rose snaked her arms around his neck and leaned into his warm chest.

Rose reached up on her tiptoes and captured his mouth with her own. The kiss was sweet and warm. Only when the saltiness of tears reached their mouths did either of them realize silent tears had been streaming down their cheeks. Neither knew exactly whose tears they were, probably both, but in that moment they were both whole again. The days they had spent apart had felt more like years and Dimitri knew he shouldn't have left so soon after finding her again.

Dimitri pulled back slightly to wipe her cheeks clean with his large palms.

Finally seeing his face, Rose winced at the bruise across his cheek, "Adrian didn't do that did he? I assume he would have much worse if he had." She lightly ran the tips of her fingers of the marks.

"No. Don't worry about it, I can't even feel it anymore." Dimitri changed the subject looking into her eyes with an intensity that should have scared her,"I promise, once I am back I will never leave you again."

"It's okay." Rose replied, a real smile gracing her face for the first time in a long time. Her mind skipped from his bruise to his words. "You're here now and that's what is important." Rose laughed and pulled Dimitri closer; even though they were pressed together as close as physically possible, it was still too far away.

"I've missed you so much." Dimitri's words were a whisper as he captured her lips with his once again. This time the kiss held more heat and even though they were outside in the cold, both of them were on fire. Hands roamed bodies and Rose slid her palms under Dimitri's duster and to the hem of his shirt. Just as her hands snaked under the material, a cough brought them back to reality.

The pair turned to see Adrian still sitting at the table, not five feet away from them. Dimitri looked embarrassed but Rose didn't remove her hands from his body.

"See, my way of making amends. Now I really don't want to see you and Belikov go at it so as much as I enjoy the thought of your close coming off Little Dhampir, I must remind you that I can't leave or the dream goes poof." Adrian made an explosive gesture with his hands as if the dream were about to blow up.

Rose nodded, "thank you." She gave a brief smile to Adrian. "Can we at least go over there somewhere and talk?" Rose gestured towards the vast wilderness before them.

"I'm not sure actually. I've never done this before. It's using a lot of magic and I don't know how long I can hold it." Rose noticed the visible stress that showed on Adrian's already pale face. She understood to well the toil that using spirit could exert over someone and felt bad for not realizing it before. Everything just seemed so real that she had wanted to believe she was really in Dimitri's arms.

Dimitri nodded, pulling Rose back against him. While they hadn't jumped apart, too much distance had seemed to creep between them at Adrian's interruption.

"Thank you Adrian, we will be quick." Rose smiled and pulled away from Dimitri. She then grabbed his hand and walked towards the edge of the wooden deck. With Adrian's superior hearing, she figured he could hear them anyway but hoped that he was concentrating on keeping the dream together and wouldn't pay attention. She wanted a few minutes alone with Dimitri.

The couple sat on a wooden swing that hung on the other end of the deck. They were far enough away that Adrian could see them but they could also have a little privacy.

"I miss you." Rose smiled as she leaned into Dimitri's warm embrace. The gentle swaying lulled her into comfort as she breathed in the cold mountain air. The sun was high in the sky but the warmth from it escaped them as they rocked in the snowy shadow of the lodge.

"I will be home soon. I know I keep saying that but I mean it. I want nothing more than to be back at court with you. Nothing can take me away again." Dimitri smiled as he kissed her head, she fit perfectly into his side and he knew that was where she belonged.

"I can't believe you are here. This seems so real."

"Is it always like this? Ivashkov's dream walking?"

"Yep. I didn't believe it was real the first time. Kinda crazy huh?" Rose smiled.

"Extremely." Dimitri consented. "We don't have much time. Are you okay? I mean really okay? I'm sorry Adrian made you cry. I would have punched him for you had he not allowed me to see you."

"I'm okay now. I am still dealing with things, I think it will take a while but I will manage. I think he was right about seeing you, it helps. Don't worry about me Comrade; I'll be 100% by the time you get back."

"Good. If you need anything, you can always call me. Sorry I didn't call you last night, I never got the chance."

"It's okay. I was a little preoccupied anyway. Lissa and Christian found a house!" Rose changed topics and set up to look at Dimitri. She had a real smile on her face once again and you could tell she was excited. "You should see it Dimitri, it's amazing. I can't wait till you get back and can see it. It's huge of course and they have a gigantic pool. There is even a theater system in the basement that I bet we can sneak some old western movies into for you if you are good." Rose laughed at the thought. She could already hear the complaints from Christian and Eddie.

Dimitri grinned, "I can't wait to see it either." He leaned down and gave her a whisper of a kiss, just grazing over her lips.

"Uh guys, I think it's about to end." Adrian yelled just as the edges of the dream started to flicker again.

"I wish we had more time." Rose clung to Dimitri, not ready to let him go just yet.

"Me too." Dimitri, knowing only moments were left, captured Rose's lips with his own and held on for as long as he could. "Soon," was his whisper just as he sat up on the seat in the plane.

Abe and Janine had questioning looks on their faces as they watched Dimitri's reaction. He looked around as though he was confused before realizing that it really was a dream. He shook his head and closed his eyes, hoping for unconsciousness to take over again. Maybe this time his dreams would be just that and he could do whatever he wanted with her without an audience present.

Seeing Rose for such a short time reaffirmed his need to actually see and hold her. He was glad he was on a plane back to the states already because nothing could keep him away from her for much longer.

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So? Did you like it? Please Review! They mean a lot to me!


	24. Chapter 24

Yea! New Chapter... sorry I am a slow updater... I KNOW how much that sucks... I'm wrapping this story up soon though so you guys won't have to wait! Sorry again!

Random question...do you ever hear anything about Russia or Sibera on the news or something and stop and are like OMG what's going on now that you have read these books when before you wouldn't have given it a second thought? I do that ALL the time...haha...

As always, unbeta'd and I own nothing...please point out typos or just messed up/inconsistent parts and I will be happy to fix them!

This chapter is at least a little longer than normal!

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Stop Being a Coward!

Chapter 24

It has been two days since Rose had had the best dream of her life. Normally when Adrian dream-stalked her she hated it but that dream where he had actually pulled Dimitri into the dream with them had been incredible.

She hadn't had any nightmares or anything since seeing Dimitri and for that she was grateful. She had actually slept well knowing that he would be home soon and they could begin their life together.

Rose kept busy during this time by helping Lissa and Christian move into their new home. The painting had been completed in a matter of hours and Rose and marveled at just how quick money could make people work.

Both Lissa and Christian had family stuff that had been in storage since their parents' deaths that they had wanted to put into their own home and while moving crews brought it all into the new house; it was up to them to actually put it in place since Lissa was far to pick to let someone else arrange her furnishings.

Lissa had also bought a bunch of new furniture that had been delivered and sat up and before long their new house was really a home. The guest bedroom that Rose had moved into had a brand new king-sized bed along with an armoire, dresser, and nightstand all in a sleek black wood finish. Rose really loved the room and was a little sad at the thought that she might not be living there for long.

Moving had kept her mind so occupied that she hadn't really had a chance to talk to Adrian and properly thank him for the dream. She did notice that once manual labor had been brought up the day before, Adrian had disappeared and hadn't been seen since.

Typical male Rose thought as she finished putting the sheets on her the bed she would be sleeping in for now. The soft Egyptian cotton sheets were like a dream and Rose couldn't wait to spend the night in them. They were black and complimented the comforter that went atop them which was black with red roses.

Lissa had thought it was cute and bought it in spite of Rose's dislike of all things rose. Rose had rolled her eyes at the site of the bedspread but had secretly thought that the delicate rose pattern was pretty, a fact that she would never share with Lissa.

Just as Rose finished making the bed, the doorbell rang. Deciding to see who might be showing up, she went down the long hallway towards the stairs that led into the family room below. Adrian was standing just inside the doorway leading from the foyer looking around the large room with approval.

He had appeared the day before briefly to check out the house. After giving his approval on it he had fled so quickly that you would have thought Strigoi were chasing him.

"Typical." Rose rolled her eyes at the sight of the moroi. "Of course you show up once everything is done."

"I was busy. I came to help but I see my services aren't needed." He grinned, happy that Rose wasn't mad anymore.

"Right…you just didn't want to help." Rose smiled back, expecting no less from him.

"These hands are no made for manual labor." Adrian waived his hands in the air.

Christian scoffed, "those hands are made for manicures. You have the most girl-ish looking hands I have ever seen. Rose's are more manly than yours."

Rose scowled at that as she looked down at her beaten and battered hands. Being a guardian was always hard on her and the thought that Adrian's hands were prettier than hers put a damper on the great mood she had been in just before.

"Rose's hands might take a beating but I bet that she could beat up both of you at the same time with them." Lissa grinning, coming into the conversation. "We will just have to go get manicures tomorrow Rose, my treat for helping me with all of this." Lissa looked around at the new home she had mad. She really was excited to see everything finally in place. She hadn't had a real home in years.

The thought of a spa day immediately brought Rose's mood back up. "So, now what are we going to do for supper? Isn't the traditional move in day food pizza?"

"I'll call it in." Christian chirped up, grabbing his phone out of his pocket and beginning to dial. He then paused, "what's the number again?"

"No, I will call it in." Adrian dialed the number he knew by heart, "my treat as you all worked so hard to make this place so lovely. Plus, this way we won't get something gross like anchovies or something." Adrian made a face at that.

"Hey!" Christian called, "Anchovies are awesome!"

"Gag!" Rose fake vomited as she walked towards the kitchen in search of a soda. Her mind automatically leading her to the only thing that could make that night better: _Dimitri._ Her gut told her he would be home soon; it was only a matter of how soon was soon.

The four of them settled down in the living room in front of the 55 inch flat screen TV that Christian had had delivered the night before. Lissa and Christian cuddled on the love seat while Rose sat in an oversized chair and Adrian relaxed on the plush couch that was centered in the room. All the furniture in there was new and Rose could smell that new smell when she laid her head against the arm rest. They fought about which movie to watch and decided on Going the Distance. They were just about to pop it in when the doorbell rang.

Rose grinned, "fifteen minutes early too! It's nice being a friend of the last Dragomir Princess."

"Hey! I ordered that, they thought it was for me. I am the queen's nephew!" Adrian immediately replied, offended at the idea that Lissa's birthright might have sped up the delivery of their Italian feast instead of his.

Rose was laughing as she pulled opened the door but immediately stopped and stared in awe of who was there. It definitely wasn't the pizza boy or even a boy at all. He was all man….tall, dark and Russian man….her man.

Rose launched herself into Dimitri's arms. Feeling him so close and so warm was overwhelming. The dream just a few days before had not done him justice and his aftershave attacking her senses was the only thing that made her believe that this was real. Her face was buried in his neck and his in her hair as he breathed in her familiar scent. The dream had seemed so real and while it was as though they had been together, if paled in comparison to reality.

This time there were no tears as the couple embraced; only smiles have happiness. They were finally together again and this time they wouldn't be separating anytime soon. Rose laughed as she pulled back to look into Dimitri's eyes.

"When did you get back? How did you find where we were? Why didn't you tell me you were coming home?" Her questions launched one after another, giving him no time to answer.

He laughed and pulled her back to him. It made Rose's heart fly to hear the sound and see the smile on his face, "one question at a time Roza. We just got here. Your mother made a few calls and found out where you would be."

"My mom?" Rose question was answered by a cough coming from behind where she and Dimitri were blocking the doorway.

Just on the porch stood Abe and Janine, "Mom? Old man? What are you guys doing here?"

"We were on our way to see you. Picked up Belikov on the way." Abe shrugged and nodded towards the doorway. "Can we come in or do we have to stand around outside all night while you get reacquainted? I would prefer not to see anymore."

Rose looked down and realized that she had basically wrapped her legs around Dimitri's waste when she had pounced on him.

"Really Rose, let him breathe, we have been on a plane for the past 3 days!" Janine admonished her daughter's behavior.

Rose slid down Dimitri's body so that she was standing in front of him. He clasped her hand and smiled at her again. A full smile that made her heart thump harder in her chest.

"Sorry." Rose moved stepped back, pulling Dimitri with her and made way for her parents to enter the house. Just as she was about to close the door behind them, the pizza boy showed up with hot pizzas.

"Good thing we ordered extra." Rose reluctantly let go of Dimitri's hand to sign the credit card receipt then handed it back to the man before ushering the newcomers into the family room.

"Look who I found!" Rose excitedly called as joined Lissa, Christian and Adrian while pulling Dimitri into the room with her. Janine and Abe followed behind the couple as Abe carried the pizza.

Greetings were quickly given and then everyone turned to the pizza boxes that had been placed on the coffee table in the middle of the floor. Lissa and Christian still sat on the love seat while Abe and Janine had joined Adrian on the couch. Rose had considered sitting in Dimitri's lap but decided against it as they were eating and her parents were in the room. No matter how okay they seemed to be with the idea of her and Dimitri, the look that Abe gave the dhampir had Rose questioning his true feelings. She had decided not to risk his wrath for the evening and sat on the floor, leaning on the chair between Dimitri's legs.

"How long are you going to be staying Guardian Hathaway?" Lissa asked from across the room.

"I'm not sure. I took some time off to spend here so it will be a while at least."

"Well, you are all more than welcome to stay here, there is plenty of room." Lissa asked, smiling. She was glad that Rose's mom was here to spend time with her. She knew Rose needed family even thought she might say otherwise.

"That's very kind of you but we already have rooms in guest housing arranged." The sideways glance she gave Abe made Rose narrow her eyes a little but she didn't mention it.

"Well the offer is always there if you change your mind." Lissa replied then began to talk about the house.

Rose moved her glare from her parents' cozy attitude towards each other to Adrian's stare. As soon as she noticed him watching her he abruptly turned the other way and started talking to Lissa.

As the food and conversation started to die down, the doorbell rang again.

"That will be Eddie and Mia." Christian stated, "I invited them over to watch a movie with us." He went to the door and came back with them in tow.

"That is our queue to leave." Janine said, "We well leave you all to watch movies, thank you for the food." Janine and Abe stood up and after saying their goodbyes and promises to come by the next day for the grand tour, departed.

Adrian's eyes once again landed on Rose and Dimitri and this time Dimitri called him on it. "You've been staring at us all night Ivashkov, what's the deal?"

"It's amazing." He smiled and replied to Dimitri. "Do you see it too cousin?" Adrian turned to Lissa.

"Yeah, it's always like that around them but I don't think I've ever seen it that strong. It can be a little distracting." Lissa agreed, looking at them with the same dazed face.

"Um…what are you talking about?" Rose questioned as she scooted up to properly sit in Dimitri's lap. His arms immediately wrapped around her waist.

"Your auras." Adrian replied simply as if that explained everything.

"Can we get a little more than that please?" Rose asked in a snarky attitude wondering what on Earth her aura had to do with anything. She considered going into Lissa's head to see herself but decided that would be a bad idea with everyone around.

"It's kind of crazy and glowy. You both have your own auras of course but they like reach out to each other and seem to blend or mix. It's like you can't tell where one stops and the other begins. I noticed it in the dream the other day but thought it was just the spirit making me see things."

Lissa sighed, "It's always been like that, at least ever since I found out how to see auras. But it's different tonight, kind of blinding and forceful. It'd be hard to miss."

"It's always been like that?" Adrian asked her.

"Yep, I think you were just too focused on Rose to actually see it." Lissa replied, glad that Adrian was finally seeing what everyone else had seen for too long: Rose and Dimitri were meant to be. If he hadn't been 100% sure before, seeing their auras like that would have forced the realization.

Adrian gave an embarrassed laugh but way saved from replying when the doorbell rang once again.

"Well, well, well. This is just the happening place to be tonight." Christian stood to get the door but Adrian beat him too it. "That would be for me."

"You can't just invite people over to my house!" Christian said in his lord of the manor voice. Adrian ignored him and stepped around him to answer the door.

Eddie and Mia hadn't said much and were sitting side by side on the couch as they looked around the huge room in awe. They were another pair that just happened to be too busy when it came to moving in.

"Where have you guys been?" Rose narrowed her eyes at them. "Too busy to help but not too busy to come play?"

Mia blushed and looked at Eddie for an answer. Eddie simply shrugged and put his arm over Mia's shoulders. "Sorry. You know how it is, with the extra trainings that we've implemented to help moroi learn to fight we've been kept busy."

This news made both Rose and Dimitri sit up. "Extra trainings?" Obviously neither had known about what was going on at court.

"Yeah…." Eddie then began explaining in detail how there had been some changes recently and moroi defense classes had been set up to both help them learn physical combat but also how to use magic to defend themselves. "I take it neither of you knew anything about it?"

"Nope." Rose replied. Dimitri nodded, "I guess we will have to go in and see if we can be of assistance."

Eddie nodded, "they need more trainers so I'm sure they would be happy to have you both helping."

Before the conversation could get too in depth, Adrian appeared back in the doorway with Abby Badica in trailing behind him. Rose raised her eyebrows at this. Obviously Adrian had been doing more than twiddling his thumbs over the past two days.

"Abby, this is Mia, Eddie, and Dimitri. You know everyone else. Everyone, this is Abby." Adrian sounded a little shy still and his voice wasn't quite what it had been but Rose could tell he was trying really hard to be okay in front of Abby. What had they done over the past two days to get him feel at ease? Rose decided to let that question go for now and just be happy. She had Dimitri back and her friends surrounding her. Right now, everything was perfect.

After a round of hellos, a tour of the house was given. Everyone ooh'd and aww'd at the gigantic size of the house and the beautiful decorating. Lissa really had a knack for it.

When they reached the guest wing of the house, Rose pulled Dimitri into a dark room and shut the door behind them.

"And this…." She trailed off seductively as she skimmed her lips over his. "Is our room…." Her hand reached out and flicked the dimmer switch, giving them just enough light to see the huge bed standing like a beacon in the middle of the room.

Dimitri smiled and leaned down to capture her lips as he walked her backwards towards the bed. "It's amazing." His breath skimmed over her face as he pushed her down onto the bed, toppling over with her until they were laying flush against each other with his weight pinning her down.

"You didn't even see it." Rose laughed as he nuzzled her neck, his hands running through her long brown locks.

"I don't care about the room. You and me alone at last is all I've thought about since I left. You are amazing Roza." His words mad her smile and she leaned up and caught his lips with her own. Hands began to roam around each other's bodies in a frenzy. Rose reached for the hem of Dimitri's t-shirt and pulled it over his head. Just as Dimitri was about to remove hers, the door busted open and a bright light filled the room.

Dimitri and Rose's lightening fast reflexes allowed them to both jump from the bed almost in unison and turn towards the open doorway.

Christian, Lissa, Eddie, Mia, Adrian and Abby all stood at the door with various expressions on their faces. Christian was laughing, "Wow, you guys move quick." He gestured towards Rose and she looked down noticing that her bra had somehow already been removed and was hanging from the bottom of her shirt, her nipples stood erect for the group to see. At least she still had her shirt on!

_When did my bra come off? _Rose wondered as she turned around to put it back on.

Eddie was looking at the couple in amusement, already fully aware of most of Rose's exploits. Being caught in a compromising position with Belikov was kind of funny to him.

Adrian had a scowl on his face though Rose was sure it was because of the situation and not because he still wanted her.

The funniest expressions were on the girls' faces though. Lissa, Mia, and Abby were all staring at Dimitri's still naked chest with drool practically running down their chins.

Fortunately for them, Rose was the only one that noticed and grabbed Dimitri's shirt off the bed, pushing it into his chest. She would have called them out on ogling her man had their men not been in the same room. She didn't want to start that drama.

"We are watching a movie in the theater room." Lissa said, pulling her mind back to the situation at hand. "We had even left the wing yet Rose! We could hear you at the end of the hall! You will have plenty of time for that later! Everyone downstairs now."

At this Rose blushed a little and nodded. She knew that Lissa just wanted to have a nice night in her new home with all of her friends. Rose reluctantly agreed to the night of movies and fun and her and Dimitri, now fully dressed, followed the group to the basement.

_Good thing no one else is staying on that side of the house tonight Rose._ Lissa sent the message through the bond. Rose merely laughed and clasped Dimitri's hand. Yes, it was a VERY good thing no one would be in that side of the house that night because her and Dimitri would not be coming out for a while once they made it back to their room.

A quick kiss promised Dimitri that the night was definitely just getting started.

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Please Please Please review...let me know what you think...what you'd like to see...ect... I know I've lost some readers/reviewers due to my slow updates and for that I am sorry! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to all of you who have stuck with me! I hope you weren't disappointed... I did give you the reunion! Let me know what you think!


	25. Chapter 25

What is this? Oh yes, it is an update! haha... I'm so sorry that I have dropped the ball on this story...it's coming to a close and I think there is only one chapter left. I tried to make this one long and it kind of spans a long time frame. I also went a little more into the 'M' rated territory than I had planned (as I don't normally go there at all) as a thank you for waiting so long...again, I am SOOO Sorry...

I own nothing and it isn't beta'd...let me know about terrible mistakes and I will correct them.

Thank you to everyone who has liked/favorited/read/reviewed this story. I hope at least some of you are still out there... Please let me know what you think...

Also, I have a twitter it's CaRiNeSs19 if you want to look for me... you can follow me on there and urge me to update...it will help it go faster...

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Stop Being a Coward!

Chapter 25

Three and half movies later and an endless supply of popcorn from the authentic movie popcorn maker Lissa had purchased to complete the movie going experience Rose stretched her arms over her head. The black leather recliners were very comfortable but she had been halfway over the armrest and in Dimitri's arms for the past 2 hours and that was starting to hurt her back.

Being the great guardian that she was, her eyes scanned the room again. They were in the middle of court in a basement so Rose knew they were safe but this time, she was using her abilities for a different reason.

Eddie and Mia had moved to the floor so they could cuddle and had fallen asleep almost before the first movie was half over. Their training had really taken a toll on both of them and Rose noticed they were still sound asleep.

Abby had also fallen asleep sometime though the second movie with her body angled towards Adrian. They weren't touching but you could tell Adrian had wanted to at least hold her hand with the way his was just beside hers on the armrest of the chair. He had angled his body towards hers after she had fallen asleep and then managed to doze off himself. Rose could hear the slight snore coming from his lips. If sound was annoying to her, she could only imagine how Abby would feel with her superior Moroi hearing.

Lissa had been the last to visit the sandman as she had not only stayed awake because we were watching her favorite movies, Twilight, New Moon, and Eclipse, but was trying to make sure that Dimitri and I didn't sneak off before the night was over. Once Christian had passed out on her though, she settled down and fell into a cozy dreamless sleep alongside him.

This left her and Dimitri, neither of whom had a even come close to falling asleep. Dimitri had whispered in her ear that they should sneak out the moment Lissa had gone under about 30 minutes before but Rose had promised her they would watch all three movies. So that was what she had done.

Now that the credits of Eclipse were scrolling by and the other of the room's occupants were soundly sleeping, Rose slid to her feet and signaled for Dimitri to head out just ahead of her.

Using his stealthy guardian abilities, the two exited the room. Rose paused momentarily when Lissa's thoughts echoed through her mind _Night Rose._ She smiled, knowing that Lissa wouldn't be mad at her in the morning and followed Dimitri back up the winding staircase.

Once they were on the main floor, stealth flew out the window and the pair raced up to the wing Rose's room held as fast as they could, attempting to keep the laughter at bay as to not wake everyone up again.

Rose had never seen Dimitri so carefree or happy and she loved it. As soon as they reached her room, Dimitri pulled her towards him, spinning her around and pinning her to the now closed door. His mouth began to assault hers as he took everything she was willing to give and then some.

"I missed you." Rose noticed the emotion Dimitri's voice held as he whispered exotic phrases in her ear.

Still not knowing Russian, Rose could only smile. "Ditto," was her reply and Dimitri laughed. "I love you."

"I love you too." And with that, only actions were left to communicate the love and longing held between them. Dimitri easily turned her towards the welcoming bed and continued to show her just how true his words were.

His mouth ran from her chin down her neck to the cleavage he had seen twice and never forgotten. His hands raked up her back as he pulled her shirt from her body.

Her hands did some exploring as well as she ran them up his chest under the t-shirt he was wearing and felt his perfectly muscled abs. They hadn't worked out together in a while but Rose could tell he hadn't been slacking a bit.

The thought that they should go for a run together the next morning briefly came into her mind but was forced out of it when Dimitri's mouth covered her now bear chest.

She vaguely wondered once again where her bra had gone but this time no one was charging into her room so she didn't care. She tugged at Dimitri's shirt, saddened when his warm mouth left her body to allow it to be tugged over his head.

Dimitri had backed Rose into the bed and as the mattress pressed against the back of her knees, she quickly slid down her pants and sat, going immediately to work on the belt still holding up her lover's jeans as she kicked her pants and socks off her long legs.

Dimitri hurriedly helped her remove his last articles of clothing then pressed her back into the bed, using his body to cover her own.

What they did then, as they came together for the second time ever, confirmed for Rose just how glad she was that she was with Dimitri. He was gentle and loving and having this experience with any other man at any other time would have been wrong.

Dimitri knew and was glad that she was still inexperienced and took his time, making their second time together magical. He knew Rose was usually hard and rough and that eventually they would have sex that reflected that animal instinct that lived inside of both of them but for right now he was content and happy to just make love to her; to finally be with her again.

When they were finished, Rose rolled into Dimitri's side and sighed in contentment. "That was…." She trailed off, unsure of what to say after a life-altering experience like she had just had. The nerves she had felt at the edge of her consciousness the first time were gone and while it had still felt a little uncomfortable at first, she was glad that the pain she had experienced did not reoccur.

"Amazing!" Dimitri finished for her, his accent so much heavier when emotion was involved. He pulled her to his chest and she felt his heart still racing in his body.

Rose laughed, "if that's all we had to do to get in shape, we shoulda been doing that back at the academy."

Dimitri tried to admonish her but just couldn't put himself back in that role after everything they had been though. He actually ended up laughing, "I hate to say this but I'm glad I wasn't your teacher after that night because there was no way I could have kept up the façade. You would have gone back to being in trouble all the time because we both know you couldn't keep your hands off me." Dimitri ran his hands up her bare back.

"Oh yeah? And what about you? No way you could have resisted my charms, Comrade. I would have had you sneaking into my dorm room." She told him with a cocky grin on her face. "You so would have gotten fired." It was nice she thought, to be able to lie beside Dimitri and talk about the past. Even the hard parts weren't so bad while he was there. They would finally be okay.

"I doubt that, Roza." Dimitri chuckled and kissed the top of her head. She was the one person who could make him lose his control in seconds. She was also the one person he didn't mind losing control in front of and to.

Rose yawned then and shivered, the room was cool on her naked skin. She had finally overcome the heat of her lovemaking and actually felt the cold air from the vent overhead.

Dimitri pulled the covers back so they could scoot under. Once Rose was tucked in he stood up from the bed and walked towards the light switch. While they were dimmed, Dimitri wanted to turn them completely out to go to sleep. He stretched, feeling exhausted. He had to admit that it was a great work out though.

Just before he reached the switch, Rose laughed and clapped twice, causing darkness to fall over the room.

"What the hell?" Dimitri replied and heard Rose clap again, bring the lights right back on.

"It's on a clapper….Lissa goes overboard on the luxuries." Rose said, sitting up and smiling. The sheet was just covering her curves and Dimitri narrowed his eyes at her.

"If I could have clapped and turned the lights off, why didn't you tell me that before I got out of bed?" Dimitri sounded a tad bit annoyed but Rose just laughed.

"I was enjoying the view."

Dimitri looked down at his naked body. He had never been ashamed of his form but somehow with Rose staring at him from across the room, he felt mildly embarrassed.

Dimitri grunted a sound of disapproval then clapped twice, sending the room into darkness once again as he ran towards the bed. He leaped in what Rose was sure was an elegant dive onto the covers and tackling her. His fingers immediately went to work tickling her through the sheets.

Having enough, Rose grabbed his face and brought his lips down on her own. Suddenly she wasn't tired anymore and couldn't get enough of the god before her.

They spent the rest of the night making up for lost time. They both knew that time was precious and didn't want to waste even a minute.

* * *

In a very unDimitri-like move, the next morning, he and Rose spent in bed. There would be time to go talk to the guardians to see about being re-instated. Dimitri figured that both he and Rose were going to be stuck in a basement somewhere in Court filing for a long time before they even had a shot at protecting a Moroi again; and that was if they were lucky.

With this thought in mind, Dimitri had suggested he and Rose take a few days off to just be together without the watchful eyes of both dhampirs and Moroi that lived within the walls of the Royal Court.

Rose had had what seemed like eternity without work so she had suggested that they at least do some training in the gym that was the other half of the basement.

No one had messed with the couple that morning and Lissa had let her know though the bond it was because she wanted her to have some time with Dimitri. The boys on the other hand were just all too scared of him to even attempt waking them up.

Christian, Lissa, Eddie and Mia had been somewhere in the house during breakfast but had left soon after. Eddie and Mia had to get to training and Lissa and Christian were going shopping for a few more things Lissa thought the house needed.

A note on the kitchen island told Rose that a full breakfast was warming in the oven. Rose opened it to see bacon, eggs, toast, biscuits and gravy, as well as two Denver Omelets. The note also said fresh orange juice, milk, and fruit was in the refrigerator as well as cereal in the pantry and that Rose and Dimitri could have whatever they wanted.

Rose immediately went for the sugary cereal and piled a plate high with bacon. Dimitri rolled his eyes as he got some fruit and poured himself a class of orange juice. "You should eat better than that Roza."

"This?" Rose smiled, "I'm just getting started. You seemed to make me ravenous."

Dimitri heard the underlying subtext in her statement but chose to ignore it. They had kept each other busy all night. Dimitri took his time in reacquainting himself with her body. While she had gained most of the weight she had lost back, she could still stand to put on a few more pounds.

He sat mesmerized as he watched her eat two bowls of cereal, one of the omelets, a handful of red grapes, and some biscuits and gravy. It never seemed to amaze him just how much food Rose could fit into her athletic body.

"Something wrong?" he asked, finishing the other omelet that Rose had graciously left him.

"Just wishing there had been pancakes. I could have sworn Lissa was making some this morning." A look of confusion washed over her face and she made a mental note to ask Sparky what he had done with them. He knew they were her favorite. "I think I need to let this settle before I start working out." Rose pointed towards her belly.

Dimitri laughed and nodded, "we can clean up this mess and then go downstairs."

Rose pouted, "that wasn't what I meant."

"I know." Dimitri gathered up the plates and walked towards the sink. He had lived alone most of his life but his mother had taught him to always clean up after himself.

Fifteen minutes later, the dishes were washed and the few leftovers that Rose had left were packed into the fridge. "Let's start with stretches then do some laps."

Rose rolled her eyes, happy though because she really felt like she had just travelled back in time to happier days of being at the academy and Dimitri being her mentor.

"Alright Comrade, you are going to do this with me aren't you?" She stood in front of a wall mirror on one side of the gym and bent over to begin stretching her back.

Dimitri groaned as he watched her bend. "Of course." He stayed behind her but began stretching out as well.

She turned just slightly with her right arm tucking under her boobs to push them up just a bit. Wearing only a sports bra as a top, this made them bulge even more than normal.

Dimitri turned quickly in an attempt to make it look like he was not watching her and fell.

Rose burst into laughter, "you okay there?"

"Yes, I was just going to stretch out my legs." Dimitri tried to play it off as nothing and began working on stretching out his leg muscles. They had gotten a decent workout the night before and were a little sore. It had been a long time since he had had that kind of physical activity.

"Uh-huh." Rose turned towards him then walked up and kneeled between his scissored legs. She leaned forward and gave him a chased kiss. "It's okay, you are allowed to do that now." She then sat in front of him, both helping each other stretch and loosen up sore muscles.

The rest of the workout went pretty much the same. They stole innocent kisses here and there and at one point, Rose had attempted to seduce Dimitri but he had refused as they were in "the Princess' home" and anyone could walk down there at any given time.

Rose had rolled her eyes but didn't stop. She knew Dimitri had the will-power to keep his hands off of her as he had done it for months back at the academy. She had hoped that now he could touch her, he would lose control but being the man he was, it seemed as though he could contain his control now that he had relieved some of the need the previous night.

There was only so much a man could take though. After Rose's sports bra accidentally slipped up for the third time, Dimitri had had enough. The work out was wrapping up anyway and he couldn't contain himself. He picked her up over his shoulder and carried her back up the many stairways to the bedroom they had shared the night before.

He then proceeded to help her remove the bra that had not wanted to stay in place as well so their other articles of clothing before pushing her into the shower.

Shower sex had been wet and tricky as Rose had nearly slipped on the soap twice. Dimitri had been able to support her weight as he held her against the side of the wall though. They had each made it out of the shower clean, sexually sated for the moment, and with no injuries to speak of.

This was how the next few days went. Everyone seemed to stay out of their way and let them do as they wished. They had gone out to dinner one night and they knew they were now the topic of conversation but they didn't care. They were happy to finally be back together.

Lissa had actually pulled a few strings and got Rose assigned as one of her bodyguards. She had three which was unheard of but since she was the last of her line, they allowed it. She had also gotten Dimitri assigned to be Christian's guardian, a job he graciously accepted as he had not thought he would be guarding anyone anytime soon.

Their days and nights turned into months and soon the couple was no longer the hot topic of the evening.

Dimitri would come and go with Christian while Lissa had made arrangements to finally start attending Lehigh so Dimitri and Rose settled into a normal routine. She would leave court to go with Lissa and come home every night to Dimitri.

Abby and Adrian were officially a couple and Eddie and Mia had brought Dimitri and Rose into their combat training group for Moroi.

Rose really thought that life couldn't get any better. As she and Lissa were driven from campus as they usually were every day after classes let out, Rose noticed that the driver of the town car they were in was taking a different route than normal.

"What the hell? Where are we going?"

"Relax Rose, I have a surprise for you." Lissa calmed her friend as they pulled up outside of a trendy boutique. "We are going to do a little shopping."

"What for? What is it you need?" There had been one day when Rose would have been overjoyed at the news they were going shopping but lately she just wanted to be at home with Dimitri.

"Not for me, for you." Lissa smiled and pulled Rose into the shop. They were immediately brought glasses of Champaign and ushered into a private dressing room.

"What's going on Lissa?" Rose didn't like how Lissa was learning to keep more and more from her. While it was nice that she didn't have to be a third will to her and Sparky's amorous times, she didn't like that Lissa could plan a shopping trip like this without her.

"You have a date tonight and I am going to make sure you look your best. We don't have much time so you have a choice, red, white, or black?" Rose turned to see three women come out of a back room. Each was dressed in an amazing dress. Once wore white, one black, and the last red.

Rose looked closer, noticing that each of the women were dhampirs so they fit the dressed much better than they would have had they been Moroi.

"Well that depends, what are we doing tonight?"

"It's a surprise is all I can say. Black, Red, or white? All of which will be appropriate, you just have to pick what color you want to wear."

Rose looked at the dresses again before deciding on the black one. It was strapless with a sweetheart neckline. The slightly shimmering material reminded Rose of the dress she had worn the night of the Lust Charm but this dress was floor length with just a hint of a train behind it. A slit ran up the side of the gown to the woman's thigh and Rose knew she would look amazing in it.

Lissa smiled, "I figured you would pick that one, go change." She then ushered Rose towards a dressing room where another black dress hung along with a lace corset and matching black panties. Black heals sat in a box on the bench beside the layout and Rose started to drool remembering the days she was a girly girl and would kill for heels like the ones in front of her now.

Rose smiled and began to change. Once she was decent, a team of makeup and hair people stormed the dressing room and began curing her hair and adding eye shadow. She had to admit she had missed being a girl and wearing mascara.

Less than an hour later, Rose emerged from the boutique a different woman only to find Dimitri waiting by a limo that had taken the town car's place. He was wearing a black tuxedo and Rose was momentarily speechless.

Rose smiled "You did all this for me?"

He shrugged, "Lissa helped." Rose was glad he was finally calling her by the correct name. He ushered her into the car after handing her a single red rose. "You look amazing."

"Thank you. Where are we going?"

"That is the surprise." Dimitri kissed her cheek and pulled her body into his side as the limo pulled out of the massive gates .

"We're leaving Court?"

"Yes." was all that Dimitri would say.

About ten minutes later, the limo stopped. The driver opened the door and Dimitri got out, helping Rose out after him. He had been blocking her view of where they were going while in the car.

All Rose knew was that they were in the middle of nowhere as they hadn't gone far enough outside of the Court walls to actually reach a town.

"Ready?" Dimitri asked; a slight smile on his face. This secretive smile reminded her once again of the past but she noticed it also held a hint of the future.

She nodded just as Dimitri stepped away; finally giving her a full view of what he had been shielding her from. She looked up in confusion at what lay before her before turning to Dimitri for answers. "What is that?"

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Ideas? Where does Dimitri take Rose? Please review if there are any readers left... thank you for sticking with me! Next chapter will really be up much quicker than this one took...


	26. Chapter 26

I have no words for how sorry I am that I failed to update this story. I know it's an excuse but Graduate school can be difficult. I am out for the summer and really hoping to be able to write.

I own nothing! Nothing is Beta'd so if there are mistakes, they are mine.

This is the last chapter so I hope you enjoy it! Please review!

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Stop Being a Coward!

Chapter 26

And then, the world around me dissolved. I stood in a room I didn't recognize. For a moment, I thought I was back in Galina's estate. It certainly had that rich, expensive feel to it. But no. After a moment's examination, I realized this wasn't the same at all.

The furnishings were different. Even the vibe was different. Galina's home had been beautiful, but there had been a cold, impersonal feel to it. This place was inviting and clearly well loved. The plush couch had a quilt thrown haphazardly in its corner, as though someone-or maybe two someones-had been cuddling underneath it. And while the room wasn't messy, exactly, there were scattered objects-books, framed photos-that indicated this room was actually used and wasn't just for show.

I walked over to a small bookshelf and picked up one of the framed photos. I nearly dropped it when I saw what it was. It was a picture of Dimitri and me-but I had no memory of it. We stood arm in arm, leaning our faces together to make sure we both got in the shot. I was grinning broadly, and he too wore a joyous smile, one I'd hardly ever seen on him. It softened some of the protective fierceness that usually filled his features and made him look sexier than I'd ever imagined. A piece of that soft brown hair had slipped his ponytail and lay on his cheek. Beyond us was a city that I immediately recognized: Saint Petersburg. I frowned. No, this was definitely a picture that couldn't exist.

I was still studying it when I heard someone walk into the room.

When I saw who it was, my heart stopped. I set the photo back on the shelf with shaking hands and took a few steps back. It was Dimitri. He wore jeans and a casual red T-shirt that fit the lean muscles of his body perfectly. His hair was down loose and slightly damp, like he'd just gotten out of the shower. He held two mugs and chuckled when he saw me.

"Still not dressed?" he asked, shaking his head. "They're going to be here any minute." I looked down and saw that I wore plaid flannel pajama bottoms and a tank top. He handed me the mug, and I was too stunned to do anything but take it. I peered into it-hot chocolate-and then looked up at him. There was no red in his eyes, no evil on his face. Only gorgeous warmth and affection. He was my Dimitri, the one who'd loved and protected me. The one with a pure heart and soul..."Who… who's coming?" I asked.

"Lissa and Christian. They're coming for brunch." He gave me a

puzzled look. "Are you okay?" I looked around, again taking in the comforting room. Through a window, I saw a backyard filled with trees and flowers. Sunshine spilled through onto the carpet. I turned back to him and shook my head. "What is this? Where are we?"

His confused expression now turned into a frown. Stepping forward, he took my mug and set his and mine on the shelf. His hands rested on my hips, and I flinched but didn't break away-how could I when he looked so much like my Dimitri? "This is our house," he said, drawing me near. "In Pennsylvania."

"Pennsylvania… are we at the Royal Court?"

He shrugged. "A few miles away."

I slowly shook my head. "No… that's not possible. We can't have a home together. And definitely not so close to the others. They'd never let us."

If in some crazy world Dimitri and I lived together, we'd have to do it in secret-somewhere remote, like Siberia.

"You insisted," he said with a small smile. "And none of them care. They accept it. Besides, you said we had to live near Lissa."

My mind reeled. What was going on? How was this possible? How could I be living with Dimitri-especially so near Moroi? This wasn't right… and yet, it felt right. Looking around, I could see how this was my home. I could feel the love in it, feel the connection Dimitri and I had to it. But… how could I actually be with Dimitri? Wasn't I supposed to be doing something else? Wasn't I supposed to be somewhere else? "You're a Strigoi," I said at last. "No… you're dead. I killed you."

He ran a finger along my cheek, still giving me that rueful smile. "Do I look like I'm dead? Do I look Strigoi?"

No. He looked wonderful and sexy and strong. He was all the things I remembered, all the things I loved. "But you were…" I trailed off, still confused. "What happened?"

His hand returned to my hip, and he pulled me into a tight embrace. "You saved me," he murmured into my ear. "Your love saved me, Roza. You brought me back so that we could be together."

Had I? I had no memory of that, either. But this all seemed so real, and it felt so wonderful. I'd missed his arms around me. He'd held me as a Strigoi, but it had never felt like this. And when he leaned down and kissed me, I knew for sure he wasn't a Strigoi. I didn't know how I could have ever deluded myself back at Galina's. This kiss was alive. It burned within my soul, and as my lips pressed more eagerly into his, I felt that connection, the one that told me there was no one else in the world for me except him.

I broke the kiss but not the embrace. My head rested against his chest. "I really saved you?"

"Your love was too strong. Our love was too strong. Not even the

undead could keep us apart." I wanted to believe it.

He kissed me again then and as his hands trailed up my back to twine in my hair, it all came back. This was real. Everything I saw around me, everything that I had wanted and had imagined in a spirit manifestation so long ago was now a reality. I had fought back then to get to where I was now.

Thoughts of that night so long ago drifted through my head. Dimitri had taken me on a date in a limo. We had gone travelled just a few minutes away from court to a two-story brick home in the country. It was actually the perfect location since we were so close to court but we had our own little piece of the world.

Another memory of a time I had told Dimitri we could live alone in the mountains of nowhere flashed through my memory. He had told me that I couldn't last being away from people for so long but I had known even back then that as long as I had him, I could survive anywhere.

This mid-point between the human and vampire worlds seemed to be the perfect medium for the two of us. I was still part of Lissa's Royal Guard and Dimitri was still Christian's guardian. We reported to court every morning but got to retire to our own home most nights.

Pulling back he gave me a questioning look once again. "Don't you remember, Roza?"

I grinned, "I do now Comrade. It's just this had been my dream so long ago, the one where Avery forced her vision into my head. I thought I was back there again for a moment. I thought there was no way this could all be real."

"It's very real. We made your dream, our dream, a reality." He briefly skimmed his lips over mine for only an instant when the doorbell rang.

Groaning I pulled back. "That'd be Lissa and Christian."

He nodded and laughed looking down at my tank top and pajama pants I still wore, "I told you that you needed to get dressed before they got here."

"You get the door, I will be right back." I pressed my lips to his one more time and turned to run up the stairs to our bedroom. "Our bedroom." I said the words aloud and smiled at the thought of it.

This was the place I got to call home. The place I got to lay my head down next to Dimitri most nights. I smiled as I quickly changed out of my pajamas; excited to see Lissa as I could tell she was waiting for me down stairs.

Entering the kitchen again, I saw Dimitri pulling some black bread he'd made out of the oven. Lissa smiled when she saw me, her hand tightly nestled in Christians.

"Bout time you got down here. Your cocoa is cold." Lissa nodded to the cup that Dimitri had retrieved from the shelf.

"I'll warm it up for you," Christian smiled as my mug started bubbling. "Learned a new trick."

"Careful," Lissa exclaimed as I took a cautious sip, "he hasn't gotten the whole temperature thing down yet and it might be too hot."

I grinned as I looked around my home. "It's perfect." And for once it truly was. I had Dimitri and Lissa. I had everything in the world I had ever wanted. "Just perfect."

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So that was it...I know it wasn't worth the wait of a year but at least it's finally finished! Please review?


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